Adrian Peterson bulled through four Detroit tacklers and hit the open field, nothing but green turf and the end zone in front of him.

Almost every other time this has happened in Peterson’s brilliant young career, it has meant six points for the Minnesota Vikings.

This time, however, Peterson was caught from behind by Lions cornerback Phillip Buchanon, who punched the ball out just before Peterson crossed the goal line. The Lions recovered, keeping them in a game they had no business being in.

The play basically reflects what was a blunder-filled 27-10 victory by Minnesota. The Vikings committed a season-high 13 penalties and turned the ball over three times inside the Detroit 20 before overwhelming the hapless Lions in the fourth quarter.

“We bounced back pretty well, but we can’t have that,” Peterson said of the errors. “To get the things that we want to accomplish, we have to make sure that we scratch those things out. Penalties, things we can control.”

Peterson rushed for 133 yards and two touchdowns, but he was charged with two fumbles, the other coming on a botched pitch to Percy Harvin.

Brett Favre threw for a season-high 344 yards, the Vikings racked up 492 yards of total offense and Sidney Rice pulled in three receptions of more than 40 yards. Yet the Vikings know that against stiffer competition — down the road or in the playoffs — they will not be able to get away with carelessness.

“We turned the ball over way too much,” Harvin said. “It seems a lot of the teams we’ve been playing we’ve been coming out slow and picking it up in the second half. To be a great team, we have to come out from the jump and play all four quarters. We’re doing some great things, but we haven’t reached our peak yet.”

Coach Brad Childress disagreed with a few of the calls that were made against his team, which entered the game averaging just 5.1 penalties per game. He still acknowledged that there were far too many mistakes.

“When the flag is down there and they’re calling it, we have to deal with it,” Childress said Monday. “Not happy about it; get it corrected. It raised its ugly head so we have to address it and look at it and clean up your own back yard.”

Brian Robison jumped offside on fourth-and-4 to give the Lions a first down and the Vikings also had a delay of game penalty on second-and-10 from the Detroit 14 that was partially responsible for the decision to settle for a field goal in the fourth quarter.

In the end, there was no harm done. Childress defines “explosive plays” as passes over 16 yards and runs over 12. The Vikings had seven passes and four runs that fit the definition, which was far too much for the Lions to handle.

The Vikings (8-1) are one game behind New Orleans for the best record in the NFC. With home games coming up against Seattle (3-6) and Chicago (4-5), Minnesota is well positioned to keep putting pressure on the Saints for the No. 1 seed in the playoffs.

If, of course, they don’t continue to give points and yards away.

“We need to tie that down,” Childress said, “because those things always come back and bite you.”