6 worst Minnesota Vikings moments from the past decade

1. Peterson charged with child abuse (2014)

One week into Mike Zimmer’s first regular season as the Vikings head coach, everything seemed like it was heading in a great direction after the team kicked off the year with an easy 34-6 win over the St. Louis Rams. But Zimmer and Minnesota had no idea what was about to happen next.

On September 12, two days before the team had a big matchup with the New England Patriots, Vikings star running back Adrian Peterson was indicted on charges of reckless or negligent injury to a child.

Peterson was accused of striking his four-year-old son multiple times with a switch that resulted in the child suffering multiple cuts and bruises. The running back’s lawyer later released a statement that stated Peterson was using, “the same kind of discipline with his child that he experienced as a child growing up.”

The Minnesota running back was eventually placed on the commissioner’s exempt list by the NFL and he missed the team’s remaining 15 games.

Peterson could have been sent to jail for the crimes he was being charged with, but he ended up agreeing to a plea deal that put him on probation, fined him $4,000, and required him to do 80 hours of community service.