It’s becoming increasingly apparent that if you were to put Adrian Peterson’s brain inside a small bird, that bird would fly backward.

Clearly, this fellow’s IQ hovers slightly above room temperature.

Just when the outrage over the child-whipping scandal was beginning to subside, just when people were coming to grips with the notion of Peterson perhaps again suiting up for the Vikings and just when the front office began to speak publicly about bringing him back into the fold — and paying him an obscene amount of money — he opened his mouth.

Peterson told ESPN.com he was “uneasy” about returning to the Vikings because he felt the team conspired with the league to “ambush” him by putting him on the commissioner’s exempt list following charges of felony child abuse. He apparently feels betrayed by the way the Vikings handled the whole situation and said he wasn’t sure that he wanted to return to Minnesota.

In truth, the Vikings have been staunchly loyal to Peterson, probably to a fault.

They deactivated him for one game after the allegations surfaced but briefly attempted to bring him back the following week, despite the fact that the populace was ready to torch Winter Park. After formal charges were filed, they got him on the commissioner’s exempt list so he could continue to get paid his full salary for doing nothing.

While he was gone, they didn’t badmouth him. They never wavered publicly in their support for him and, often referred to his stellar character — a hard sell at the time. And they always said they wanted him back.

What else were they supposed to do, issue a statement saying that Peterson’s 4-year-old son got what he deserved?

With Peterson’s league-mandated suspension up for review on April 15, the Vikings have been trying to grease the wheels for his return. Owner Mark Wilf, general manager Rick Spielman, vice president of legal affairs Kevin Warren and coach Mike Zimmer have all publicly and unequivocally stated that they want him on the team in 2015.

But apparently Peterson isn’t feeling the love. I guess he wants them all to pucker up and try harder. Meanwhile, he seems oblivious to the fact that he is in the process of killing the golden goose.

The Vikings have the option of bringing him back for $12.75 million. There is no way — no way — any other team is going to pay close to that, even if he were on the open market. But the Vikings are acting as if they might just pay that amount. I’m stunned.

Yet Peterson suddenly is making everything more difficult. Even hard-core Vikings fans, many of whom are just sobering up after a long season, will turn on Peterson if he openly rejects all things purple.

Here’s a guy who was charged with felony child abuse, then announced he had “smoked a little weed” before a court-mandated drug test. Then he refused to meet with Commissioner Roger Goodell when there seemed to be an opening for a lesser suspension.

Earlier in the year, he reportedly called Jerry Jones and told him he wanted to be a Dallas Cowboy. And I’m not even going to get into the fact that he is a one-man population explosion.

My goodness, the fellow probably thinks Johnny Cash is a pay toilet and that Taco Bell is the Spanish phone company. In other words, if he were any dumber, he’d have to be watered twice a week.

The Vikings’ big shots are reaching out and trying to pull him back in. He apparently is going to fight it every step of the way. I guess we’ll find out what the Vikings’ tolerance level is for stupidity.

Going into 2014, before this whole mess surfaced, the Vikings’ plan likely was to try to negotiate a salary reduction for 2015 so they could bring him back. With Peterson balking at returning to the Vikings anyway, it’s tough to envision that strategy working now.

The irony of it all is that, in the ESPN.com article, Peterson said he saw himself as the one whose loyalty was unappreciated by the Vikings. In reality, it’s just the reverse.

Yes, transfer that brain to a small bird and the bird not only would fly backwards but also into the unyielding glass of the Vikings’ under-construction stadium.

Tom Powers can be reached at tpowers@pioneerpress.com.