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The above is the enduring image of the Minnesota Vikings' 2012 season: superstar tailback Adrian Peterson rushing for 2,097 yards and 12 touchdowns by force of pure will and talent.

Peterson cemented his place in history with a historic season; he cemented his place in football legend less than a year removed from blowing out his ACL.

Though Peterson blasted through opposing defensive lines, shook would-be tacklers and sprinted past secondaries, the photo captures something else: how ineffective his passing-game teammates were in support.

Christian Ponder, Percy Harvin and company mustered just 2,751 yards as a unit and ranked 31st in the NFL in passing yardage. Ponder did an adequate job of dumping off passes to his hot reads and checkdowns but made very few plays.

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The NFL has released the 2013 schedule, and fans everywhere will madly circle dates on their calendar, save for single-game tickets and poke around on travel websites for sweet package deals around that killer road game.

No fan can possibly see every huge game, though, and the NFL was made for massive prime-time matchups.

Although some recent seasons have had a slate of snoozers in the very best time slots, this season shapes up to have some of the juiciest national prime-time matchups in memory.

Which are the biggest? Which are the best? Which have the most intriguing storylines, have the most at stake or will be the most competitive?

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The NFL season is still months away, but the world took a step back from draft talk on Thursday night for the annual schedule release.

As the scheduling was analyzed, a few trends became readily apparent. First, the NFL clearly has a handle on which teams fans want to see the most of. Secondly, the NFL did some teams no favors.

Football is not always the most important factor in creating a schedule. Sometimes, other sporting events like baseball games (for both stadium use and parking availability) take precedence. Other times, ratings concerns force lower-profile teams into a rough situations. 

Which teams came out on top with their schedules, and which are going to have an uphill climb?

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Christian Petersen/Getty Images

The Chicago Bears thought they had finally given quarterback Jay Cutler everything he needed to take the next step on his journey to elite status and the Bears back to the Super Bowl.

With the acquisition of former partner-in-crime Brandon Marshall, the Bears solved the receiver problem they had had since Curtis Conway left. Together with running back Matt Forte, everything seemed in place.

Instead of the high-powered, highly paid offense taking over for the aging-but-skilled defense, though, the defense was the third best unit in the NFL.

Allowing just 17.3 points per game, the Bears defense rushed the passer and covered the pass well. Per Pro Football Reference, the Bears led the NFL in adjusted net yards per attempt, meaning that nobody forced passing offenses into worse performances than the Bears. In the arm-heavy NFC North, this was vital.

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It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.

It was a season where the Green Bay Packers finished fifth in scoring offense and 11th in scoring defense; it was a season where Packers fans were left questioning everything.

It was a season where the Packers went 11-5 and won the NFC North division crown; it was a season where the Packers were mercilessly exposed in the playoffs.

It was a season where the Packers had everything to win; it was a season where it felt like they won nothing.

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The 2013 NFL Schedule has been officially released for the Indianapolis Colts as well as the rest of the NFL. Now we know not only who the Colts will play in the upcoming season, but when. 

With that info in our hands, it's time for a game-by-game look at the Colts' 2013 season. Much can change between now and kickoff weekend, but this is how things might play out for Andrew Luck and company if the season started today.

Last season, the Colts went 11-5 and were booted from the playoffs in the Wildcard round by the eventual Super Bowl champion Baltimore Ravens. Will the "Chuckstrong" magic continue for another year, or will Luck suffer a sophomore slump?

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A violent hit, a leg bent grotesquely, a dominant college running back felled.

When South Carolina running back Marcus Lattimore suffered a brutal knee injury against Tennessee last October, time seemed to stop. At 662 yards and 11 touchdowns into his junior season, a helmet-to-knee hit scythed the young runner to the ground. He wouldn't gain another inch for the Gamecocks.

Laying on the turf with a battalion of doctors, trainers and coaches around him, Lattimore's season was over—and so, maybe, was his pro career, just months before it started. Lattimore told the story of his injury and rehab to Bleacher Report:

Those who saw Lattimore go down were instantly reminded of a similar injury to a similarly dominant college back.

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