The Minnesota Vikings had a very entertaining 2015, including some truly weird, funny, out-of-the-blue moments.
2015 was a great year for the Vikings in more ways than one. They were successful on the field (up until that last bummer of a game against Seattle) and they were successful off the field in that no one got arrested. But despite the lack of Jerome Simpson-like off-field hijinks, the Vikings did have more than their fair share of weird, amusing, odd-ball moments in 2015.
Which of these moments is your favorite? There’s a lot to choose from. Adrian Peterson and Everson Griffen both were in the middle of the weirdness on more than one occasion. The entire Peterson offseason saga was one long exercise in daily insanity.
Then you had your crazy on-field moments, like Antone Exum having to take out a fan rushing the field in Oakland, and a parachutist nearly wiping out the Lions bench. And of course you had your controversies, including the bizarre Ragnar flap.
Granted, none of these stories is as nuts as something like a stadium roof caving in, but there’s still a lot of wackiness on this list.
10. Stefon Diggs protects Cordarrelle Patterson’s manhood
Before Stefon Diggs wowed fans on the field with his rookie exploits, he gave an early demonstration of his quick reflexes with this great save of Cordarrelle Patterson during training camp. Patterson and Diggs are just standing around minding their own business when a ball comes in on a trajectory that seemingly has it headed straight for Patterson’s manhood. Patterson was very lucky to have Diggs standing there! Although it kind of looks like Diggs may actually have deflected the ball AT Patterson’s groin?
The play reminds us of this moment from training camp 2010 when Brett Favre had his own encounter with a wayward ball. Unfortunately, Brett didn’t have Stefon Diggs or anyone else guarding his person. There was no one to deflect the ball away from Brett and he took one right in the junk.
While we’re on the subject of people taking things in the junk: happy trails Jared Allen! Ray Edwards’ crotch will never forget you!
9. Everson Griffen interrupts Mike Zimmer press conference
Defensive end Everson Griffen is a true free-spirit who never gets tired of having fun. Griffen had a little fun during training camp by infiltrating the media throngs and lobbing questions during a Mike Zimmer press conference. Griffen asked Zimmer, “How much do you love football?” To which Zimmer replied, “I really love my players.” And that’s why he’s Mike Zimmer.
Seeing this glimpse of the rapport between Zimmer and Griffen gives us new understanding of the relationship between the head coach and his defense. It’s easy to see why those guys are so ready to roll for Zimmer.
And Griffen wasn’t the only one having some fun with Zim during camp. Terence Newman also got in on the act by delivering some birthday spankings to the coach, with help from a somewhat reluctant Trae Waynes.
It looks like Terence Newman may be back with the Vikings for one more year, so he can lay some spankings on Zimmer after his 60th.
8. Everson Griffen is afraid of wasps
Another clip of Everson Griffen acting wacky as heck. He’s sitting on the bench during a game when suddenly a wasp begins bothering him. Griffen is not a big fan of wasps as you can tell from his reaction. Watching a very large NFL player get that freaked out by a tiny wasp is sort of amusing.
That’s why TV producers love pinning a mic to Everson Griffen. You’re always going to get some good material. He was also mic’d up during the Pro Bowl and delivered plenty of wacky chatter. He also got in a little hit on Teddy Bridgewater. A very little hit. Wouldn’t be smart to lay out your quarterback. A little later, Griffen is telling guys on the sidelines not to hit his quarterback. Smart.
7. Adrian Peterson takes on Kevin Hart in a foot race
Before he accidentally almost beat Draymond Green in a three-point contest, Kevin Hart almost deliberately beat Adrian Peterson in a foot race. In this clip from early last year, Hart and Peterson race each other in the street in the middle of the night somewhere, and Peterson just edges out Hart at the end.
At the time this clip was released, we still had no idea if Adrian Peterson would be back for 2015 with the Vikings or anyone else. For all we knew, this might have been the last time we would ever see Adrian Peterson turning on the jets. And it was in the street in the middle of the night in a foot race against Kevin Hart. That would have been a strange way for Peterson to go out. But as we know, he did come back for 2015, and he proved that he can still produce.
Now will Peterson be back for 2016 and will he still be able to put up big numbers for the Vikings?
6. Ragnar fired for being dumb and asking for two much money
A brief recap of the Ragnar “controversy” for those who’ve already banished this nonsense from their minds.
Sept. 20: News breaks that long-time Vikings mascot Ragnar aka Joe Juranitch has been fired. Speculation about the reasons for the firing range from political correctness on the part of the Vikings to the cheerleaders not liking him to a vast conspiracy involving aliens and the CIA.
Ragnar posts a sad picture on social media to show how devastated he is. This generates small shivers of sympathy in some quarters.
Sept. 22: News outlets report the reason for Ragnar’s ouster: He wanted a ridiculous amount of money, $20,000-per-game over ten years. This destroys any sympathy he had with most of the fanbase.
Sept. 25: Ragnar tries to clear the air by running to the media and telling his side of the story. He claims he never expected $20,000-per-game but just put that out there as a starting place for negotiations (via ESPN).
"“I was asked to put a contract together,” Juranitch said. “I’m not a lawyer; I’m not an agent. I’m an entertainer. I had to ask a friend to help me put something together. This is what we put together, and it all blew up. I’m not ready to retire. The Vikings wanted me to retire and have a limited role moving forward. Am I ready to retire? I’m 54 years old. I feel like a 28-year-old. I don’t want to retire.”"
The Vikings never re-opened negotiations.
Jan. 3, 2016: We skip ahead to 2016 to finish up the story. The Vikings played the Packers for the NFC North title the final week of the season, and Ragnar tried to get his revenge ahead of the game by taking off his helmet and donning a cheesehead, apparently thinking this would lay a curse on the Vikings. The Vikings won and Ragnar has now shut up apparently forever.
"Vikings (former) mascot Ragnar has choice words for @Packers fans… @RandyMoss reacts https://t.co/0elQZoUzC3 — FOX Sports: NFL (@NFLonFOX) January 3, 2016"
5. Adrian Peterson falls off his hoverboard
Everyone famous got a hoverboard this year for Christmas, leading to a rash of celebrities falling off the infernal things. Long before folks like Mike Tyson, Brandi Glanville and Darth Vader made hoverboard mishaps cool, Adrian Peterson was a pioneer in that particular area.
Technically the toy that felled Peterson is called a PhunkeeDuck but apparently the world has given up calling these things what you’re supposed to call them and we’ve all agreed to go with “hoverboard.” Peterson was messing around on his hoverboard at home when he got a little too tricky, actually trying to take a selfie while riding the hoverboard, and slipped off.
Thankfully Peterson was okay after his hoverboard mishap. Imagine how differently the Vikings’ season would have gone had Adrian actually hurt himself messing around on his toy. One little slip and history is changed forever. Without Adrian, do the Vikings make the playoffs? Do they actually go farther in the playoffs?
4. Parachutist flies into Lions bench before game
No one was hurt when a parachutist went off-course while trying to land on the field at TCF Bank Stadium before the Vikings-Lions game and slid straight into the Lions’ bench. The bizarre and frightening scene was captured on video.
Lions CB Rashean Mathis described the scary incident to ESPN:
"“He did a great job of saving, he had a chute malfunction,” Lions cornerback Rashean Mathis said. “You could see him before, probably less than 10 seconds before he hit the ground you could see he was trying to get his chute to turn and it wouldn’t turn. He pulled on it a couple times. “He saved it great. We were looking at him coming this way.”"
Larry Warford was reportedly nearly taken out by the wayward parachutist. At the time I thought it might be Ragnar trying to infiltrate the stadium but nope.
3. Rick Spielman and Adrian Peterson have a hug and talk about it
The Adrian Peterson mess dominated the offseason news, reaching several crescendos of weirdness along the way. No single image was more bizarre than the sight of Rick Spielman and Mike Zimmer arriving at Peterson’s house in Texas to have a sit-down and Spielman hugging it out with Peterson.
Looking back on it now, it was probably dumb that we ever worried about Peterson not coming back. So much stuff was flung around in the media that it was just impossible to know what was actually going on. It was all just a big crazy fog. Ultimately, the Vikings were the only team willing to give Peterson the kind of money he sought. That was the only important factor in the end. All the stuff about Peterson being mad at the organization, wanting to go to Dallas, not feeling comfortable in Minnesota, all ploys to leverage the Vikings into giving up more guaranteed money.
In retrospect, we never should have doubted that the Vikings would cave. The Vikings needed Peterson. And did not trust Teddy Bridgewater. And I’m still not sure they trust Bridgewater.
2. Antone Exum tackles fan
Whatever you do, don’t try to rush the field while Antone Exum is around. Don’t test Antone Exum or he will take you out. Some drunk fan in Oakland found this out the hard way. Antone Exum does not fool around with fans who run on the field. He isn’t going to stand by and let some idiot do something. Not on his watch.
Exum explained his thought process for when a fan rushes the field (via Minneapolis StarTribune):
"“We didn’t know what was going on at first, but then we realized it was a wild guy running around on the field,” the second-year safety said after the win. “So long story short, I felt threatened, so I acted on it and I did a successful job taking him down and hopefully I kept everybody safe.”"
Antone Exum is the Rick Grimes of the Vikings. Again, do not challenge Antone Exum. Or you will lose.
1. Ben Dogra becomes involved in altercation with Vikings executive at combine
Ben Dogra is the type of agent who will really fight for his client. Like, literally fight. The craziest story of the whole year had to be the news about Dogra and Vikings executive Rob Brzezinski nearly coming to blows over Adrian Peterson at the combine. Things got so heated between Dogra and Brzezinski that former Tampa Bay GM Mark Dominick had to step in and separate the two men.
Dogra is personally not the most savory individual but there’s no question that he is a bulldog as an agent. After months of back-and-forth, Dogra succeeded in securing Adrian Peterson a new contract that increased his guaranteed money for 2015 while building in escalators and incentives. That contract also gives both the Vikings and Peterson a way out before the new season rolls around. We are now just a couple weeks away from the March 11 deadline when Minnesota will have to guarantee $7 million of Peterson’s base salary for 2016 plus kick in a $5 million roster bonus. Clock is ticking.