Minnesota Vikings: 8 career records that will never be broken
By Tim Arcand
6. Rushing yards
Adrian Peterson (2007-2016)
With 11,747 rushing yards, Adrian Peterson is by far the Vikings franchise leader. Robert Smith is second with 6,818 yards, only 4,929 yards behind. Peterson also leads the Vikings with 2,418 carries and 97 rushing touchdowns.
A first-round round pick in 2007 from the University of Oklahoma, Peterson only started nine games his rookie season but led the NFL with an average of 95.8 yards per game. Peterson led the NFL in rushing three times and topped 1,000 yards seven times for the Vikings.
In 2012 he became the seventh player to top 2,000 yards in a season with 2,097 the second-most in NFL history. Peterson also holds the NFL single-game rushing record when he ran for 296 yards against the San Diego Chargers in 2007.
5. Sacks
John Randle (1990-2000)
This may be one record that should come with an asterisk. The NFL did not start recording sacks as an official statistic until 1982. That means the Purple People Eaters of the 70s, specifically Jim Marshall, Carl Eller and most notably, Alan Page, are not included in this category.
John Randle tops the list of 157 Vikings with at least half a sack. In over 11 seasons with Minnesota, he totaled 114 sacks. With another 23.5 sacks over three years with the Seattle Seahawks, Randle is tied for ninth in career sacks in the NFL. He is the only defensive tackle in the top five in career sacks for the Vikings.
Randle signed with the Vikings after going undrafted out of Texas A&M-Kingsville in 1990. Thought to be too small at 6-foot-1, Randle would average 10.6 sacks per season during his time with Minnesota.
To put that in perspective, the current active leader for the Vikings is Everson Griffen with 66.5 sacks. Averaging a little more than seven sacks over nine seasons, Griffen would need to play another six and half seasons to catch Randle.