A lot of people have gotten really, really excited about the whole thing about the Vikings having the most arrests in the NFL since the year 2000. Heck, we even did an article on it. However, in breaking down the arrests that the Vikings had during that time. . .quite a few of which didn't result in anything at all after the initial arrest. . .I discovered something.
Of the 36 arrests that have happened to the Minnesota Vikings since the time that the folks at SignOnSanDiego.com have been tracking that sort of thing, over half of them took place during the Mike Tice era from 2002 to 2005. From everything I can dig up, there are exactly five players on the Minnesota roster from that particular season. . .Jim Kleinsasser, Antoine Winfield, E.J. Henderson, Kevin Williams, and Chris Kluwe.
So, I guess what I'm trying to say is, "Who cares?" I mean, outside of people that still think that "Love Boat" references are somehow relevant and funny.
On the other hand, if we look at something relevant to today's Vikings' roster. . .like from the beginning of the Brad Childress era onwards. . .the numbers look a little different.
It looks bigger if you click on it.
Granted, it's still not necessarily pretty for Minnesota as far as that's concerned, but really. . .if people want to jump on the Vikings for being the "most arrested team since 2000," that's fine. But, again, since the players that accounted for the majority of those arrests have nothing to do with the team any more, it's awfully stupid and non-sensical for them to do so. Heck, if we wanted to dig far enough back into history, we could point out that two of the NFC North's four teams have had players serve a year-long suspension for violating the NFL's policies on gambling. . .and the Minnesota Vikings aren't one of them. . .but that doesn't have any relevance here, either.
In the relevant time frame, the Minnesota Vikings' legal problems aren't really any worse than a lot of teams in the NFL. They aren't any better, either, to be certain, but they aren't any worse.