MINNEAPOLIS -- The Minnesota Vikings left U.S. Bank Stadium as winners for the first time in more than a month. They can permit themselves a moment of joviality after a 30-24 win over the Arizona Cardinals. But the way the Vikings won on Sunday should probably trigger a frank discussion of what the victory represented and what it did not.

The win provided some much-needed reinforcement for the Vikings' playoff chances, taking them to 6-4 and keeping them in a first-place NFC North tie before an important Thanksgiving Day matchup with the Detroit Lions (the co-leaders in the NFC North). It will return some positive feelings to Winter Park five weeks after the Vikings' previous win sent them into their bye week at 5-0. But it should not be seen as a complete salve for the issues that revealed themselves during the Vikings' four-game losing streak.

Vikings wide receiver Cordarrelle Patterson had a 104-yard kickoff return in the second half to help the Vikings beat the Cardinals. AP Photo/Andy Clayton-King

As often as the Vikings showed flashes of their old selves on Sunday, they provided reminders of why Sunday's game was about keeping themselves in the division race, not burnishing their playoff résumé. After giving up 263 yards in the first half to a Cardinals team that ran 41 plays, the Vikings allowed just 38 in the game's next 28 minutes and turned up the pressure on Carson Palmer to end two late Cardinals drives. But they allowed a touchdown after a soft chip block by Kyle Rudolph and pressure around T.J. Clemmings caused a strip sack of Sam Bradford. And while their run game was better, they still finished the day with a pedestrian 73 yards on 23 attempts.

The Vikings had a more fully formed idea of how they want to run their offense under Pat Shurmur, incorporating more diversity out of their Wildcat package and using Cordarrelle Patterson on end arounds, reverses and screens. But their final three drives of the game ended with a fumble, a punt and another punt, as they hoped their defense could salt away a game that appeared to be in hand midway through the fourth quarter.

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Minnesota won a game on Sunday where Arizona was flagged for 96 yards' worth of penalties, and the Vikings got two touchdowns of more than 100 yards, on Xavier Rhodes' interception return of an off-target Palmer pass and Patterson's electric 104-yard kickoff return. The Vikings have now scored defensive or special-teams touchdowns in four of their six wins, and on Sunday they needed two of them to come out with a victory.

Help for the Vikings' offense could be on the way within a matter of weeks. The word around running back Adrian Peterson is that his torn right meniscus is getting close to full strength, and while Peterson is still believed to be three to four weeks from returning, he'll be able to start doing more significant running this week. The running back's return would provide a much-needed playmaker for the Vikings' offense. And while Peterson can't be expected to do it all himself behind a leaky offensive line, he'd help the Vikings open things up with another option that defenses would be forced to take into account.

After things ran so smoothly for the Vikings in a 5-0 start, though, Sunday's win was a reminder that nothing will come easily for a team whose depth has been sapped by injuries. The Vikings can be happy with the victory. They can prepare for a key holiday game with the Lions. But they've got plenty of work still in front of them if they want to be playing at home beyond New Year's Day.