That opinion is not shared by the Vikings.

"It's funny," said Minnesota Pro Bowl running back Adrian Peterson. "But I really don't feed into all of that. I know this, we'll come in prepared to play. It's a divisional game so we know what's in front of us and the task that we have to take care of this Sunday.

"Yeah, I heard it on ESPN. It was like 'OK. What can you do to change that?' Everybody's entitled their own opinion and that's cool. We know what we've got to do as a team and that's going to Detroit and performing and leaving Detroit and partying on the way back because we got a victory. That's all that matters."

The 0-12 Lions are searching for their first victory of the season against the 7-5 Vikings, who started slowly this season but have won four of their last five games.

"I suppose that reflects on us, but everybody is entitled to their opinion," said Vikings head coach Brad Childress.

The Vegas oddsmakers aren't buying the media speculation either and have made the Vikings 10-point favorites to beat Detroit.

There are a couple of factors, though, that point to the possibility of a Lions' upset. One, the Lions only lost by two points, 12-10, in their first meeting with the Vikings and, two, the Lions were 0-12 in 2001 when the Lions played the Vikings in the 13th game and Detroit won 27-24.

"If you base it off of the performance we had the first time we played those guys, we beat them by two points. If you base it off of that, I guess they can kind of argue that," said Peterson, adding that things have changed in those eight weeks. "We've definitely taken some strides since then and we're a better team. We've got an ultimate goal and the Lions are in our way. We'll come in focused and take care of business."

Peterson said the Vikings, who are trying to put a stranglehold on the NFC North title, don't want to be Detroit's first victim.

"No, I'm sure nobody wants to be the team that loses to a team that's struggling right now a little bit," he said.

THERE ARE STILL about 8,000 tickets remaining for Sunday's game and it will likely be blacked out on local television. The Lions must sell out the game by 1 p.m. Thursday to have the blackout lifted. After opening the season with three straight sellouts giving the Lions 50 straight at Ford Field four of the next five games (including this week) have not been sellouts and have been blacked out.

QUARTERBACKS DAN ORLOVSKY (right thumb) and Drew Stanton (concussion) did not practice on Wednesday and Lions head coach Rod Marinelli indicated that both players would likely be sidelined for Sunday's game. Rookie defensive ends Cliff Avril and Andre Fluellen are both expected to start against the Vikings. It would be Avril's first NFL start and Fluellen's second.