EDEN PRAIRIE, Minn. — In the debate over who is the best running back in the NFL, Vikings coach Brad Childress is agreeing with Jim Brown, not LaDainian Tomlinson.

Childress came to Adrian Peterson’s defense Wednesday after Tomlinson took a few shots at Peterson in a recent Los Angeles Times story.

When asked about it at practice Wednesday, an unusually emphatic Childress said he’s seen Peterson improve “by leaps and bounds” in all phases of the game since he entered the league in 2007.

“LaDainian is a hell of a back and he’s entitled to his opinion,” Childress said. “I’m going to tell you, my guy is the best football player in the National Football League and he’s the best running back in the National Football League.”

Peterson is the reigning NFL rushing champion and also holds the single-game record for yards rushing (296) — set against Tomlinson’s Chargers at the Metrodome in 2007. He has rushed for 3,101 yards in his first two seasons, leading many to call him the best running back in the game. For years, Tomlinson has worn that crown.

“Jim Brown was telling Peterson he’s the best runner he’d seen in a long time,” Tomlinson told the Times. “I was sitting there reading it thinking, ‘Wow.’

“The difference with me is you can put me out on that field and there will be nothing I can’t do. I won’t have to come off the field. Adrian has to come off sometimes on third down. Running routes, he’s still not there yet. Great downhill runner, powerful, fast, all that stuff. . . . But anything on that field you want me to do — throw it, block — I can do it. That’s what I pride myself on is not having any weaknesses. And that’s what makes me the best back.”