Peterson will miss at least one game

Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson will miss Sunday’s game against Oakland with a torn ligament in his right knee.

Coach Brad Childress said Monday that Peterson tore his lateral collateral ligament in the Vikings’ 34-0 loss to Green Bay. Peterson will not require surgery, Childress said.

“The good news is that the knee is otherwise stable and the injury is isolated to that ligament,” Childress said. “I’m told that’s a good healing ligament.”

Childress said it was not a season-ending injury, but he did not talk about when Peterson might be back.

“I’m real hesitant to put a timeline on that thing,” Childress said.

Peterson was hurt just a week after he set an NFL single-game rushing record with 296 yards in a victory over San Diego.

Team doctors told Childress that with ligament tears graded on a three-point scale, with three being the worst, Peterson’s tear is “two-plus.”

It’s not as serious as an anterior cruciate ligament tear, which would have required surgery and ended Peterson’s brilliant rookie season.

“This is not one of those,” Childress said.

Damon Huard is out and Brodie Croyle is in as starting quarterback for the Kansas City Chiefs.

Coach Herm Edwards said the strong-armed Croyle, who came in for a shaken-up Huard against Denver on Sunday, would start at Indianapolis this week as the Chiefs try to end a two-game losing streak and revive one of the NFL’s weakest offenses.

“You need a spark,” Edwards said. “We’ve been in some contests now where we haven’t had the ability to score points. That’s part of your job as a quarterback, to put points on the board and move the football team. We’ve moved at times, but we’ve also been very inconsistent.”

If his ineffectiveness doesn’t send Steve McNair to the Baltimore Ravens’ bench, perhaps a sore shoulder will.

The struggling quarterback has developed “substantial soreness” in his non-throwing shoulder, Coach Brian Billick said.

That, coupled with McNair’s unsightly numbers over the last two weeks, could cause Billick to turn to Kyle Boller in Sunday’s game against the Cleveland Browns.

Billick insisted Monday no decision has been made on the starting quarterback against the Browns, saying he needed more information on McNair’s physical status.

Denver Broncos safety John Lynch is still suffering numbness and weakness from a jarring tackle two weeks ago and could remained sidelined a while. . . . The Arizona Cardinals believe defensive end Bertrand Berry again has a torn triceps. Last year, Berry was sidelined for the final six games of the season with a torn right triceps. Through nine games this season, he has 21 tackles, 17 solo, and two sacks. . . . New Orleans Saints running back Reggie Bush, who was dazed by a helmet-to-helmet hit against the St, Louis Rams, and left tackle Jammal Brown, who left the game because of a lower leg injury, should be well enough to play Sunday at Houston.