MINNEAPOLIS -- Adrian Peterson and Chad Greenway are in their ninth season together and have forged a bond during those years that would seem to defy logic. Peterson grew up as the nation's most coveted high school player in Palestine, Texas; Greenway was a two-star recruit as an option quarterback for an eight-man team in Mount Vernon, South Dakota.

And while Greenway has forged an impressive 10-year career as a sturdy linebacker, he took a pay cut to remain with the Vikings at age 32, while the team guaranteed part of Peterson's salary in 2016 in order to keep an otherworldly talent the team hopes still will be elite at age 31.

Still, the linebacker from a pig farm in South Dakota and the running back from Texas have spent Peterson's entire career together, and they've developed a relationship that has endured as most of their contemporaries have departed. They are now two of the oldest players on one of the league's youngest teams, and Greenway is one of the players Peterson trusts to keep him grounded.

"We have a sort of relationship that you can’t buy," Greenway said. "I just think that when he looks to me he wants an honest assessment of what he’s doing and how he’s doing. I try to be honest with him, and I just thought he didn’t look like himself yet. I thought he needed to get his legs under him. I thought this week in practice was the first time it looked like the Adrian that I remembered. I kept saying he was getting old and close to 30, or 30 by now.

"I just try to stay on him just to keep him working, keep him driving. He’s a guy that’s obviously going to work, and he wants to get back to where he was. I think it probably took a little bit of time, but a couple of the runs he made [Sunday] looked pretty impressive to me and the things he was doing. I think he’s starting to feel a lot more comfortable out there."

Peterson stole the show with a 43-yard touchdown run on his way to 126 yards in the Vikings' win over the San Diego Chargers on Sunday. And yet it was Greenway who provided the most memorable moment of the day, with a 91-yard interception return touchdown in front of his 82-year-old grandfather, Tom, who was attending his first NFL game. Peterson, whose son Axyl was born earlier on Sunday, saw it as the perfect cap to a memorable day.

"We’ve been through ups and downs together. We have this weird connection that I can't even explain," Peterson said. "To see him perform and make a big play like that -- 91 yards. To add on to how special today began, I couldn’t ask for anything more."