When Winning Become Losing.......

The 2011 Minnesota Vikings came into this season with high hopes to return the status they had back in 2009, when they when 12-4 and was one costly turnover away from the Super Bowl. Those days seem far and beyond nowadays. Going into the Christmas Eve game against the Washington Redskins, having a 2-12 and a shot at landing the #1 pick in the upcoming draft, one would think that the Vikings would hit rock bottom for this season. That is until yesterday......

Vikings traveled to D.C. to play the Redskins in consecutive years, although the Vikings won a pretty interesting game between two teams who had no playoff hopes, this win was costly, VERY COSTLY. 

The last thing and I mean THE LAST THING the Vikings wanted to worry about was losing their $100 million man to a injury. Adrian Peterson sprained his ankle a month ago, but the injury he suffered on Saturday makes that high ankle sprain look like an owie. It has been confirmed, well the video did enough convincing, that AP did indeed tear his ACL in his left knee. That may not be the only thing he tore, he may have MCL tears and possible structural damage.

With the Vikings already having holes to fill on the roster, this may be the ultimate blow to a team that may have to start thinking "completely rebuilding" for the first time since 2006. Now for the record, I believe that AP will make a full recovery and be back in time for the 2012 season. However, there are conflicting reports that say this could be a career-ending or career-altering injury. Vikings fans seen this before, i.e. Daunte Culpepper in 2005, the Vikings have not recovered from that injury to this date. Culpepper was also the Vikings $100 million man when he suffered his knee injury. Culpepper was the Vikings franchise QB, and to this day the Vikings haven't found his replacement yet. Could AP injury mean that the Vikings will be searching for a RB to replace maybe the best RB in the sport today?

Lets consider some positives and negatives behind all of this:

Positives

• Robert Smith: the guy who AP is behind as Vikings All-time leading rusher, had two ACL injuries in his 8 year career as a Viking and statistically had his best years after those injuries.
• Willis McGhee: who destroyed his knee during his last game in college, has come back to play a decent career as an NFL RB, currently with the Denver Broncos.
• Jamal Lewis: who torn his ACL in 2001, after the Ravens Super Bowl season, came back two seasons later and ran for 2,000 yards in 2003.
• Edgerrin James: tore his ACL in 2001, but was able to come back and rush for 5 1,000 yard seasons.

Negatives

• Terrell Davis: Won back-to-back Super Bowls in 1998-99, but in 2000 tore his knee and was never the same after. Retiring shortly after.
• Jamal Anderson: Had a great year in 1998, leading the Atlanta Falcons to the Super Bowl, but tore his ACL the following season. He tried to come back a few times, but never regained his top form.
• Deuce McAllister: Was the Saints work-horse from his rookie season in 2001 until his tore his ACL in 2005. The Saints drafted Reggie Bush in the draft and Deuce's years were numbered, as he never regain his pro bowl status.
• Olandis Gary: Was the replacement for the aforementioned Terrell Davis, had a great rookie season and the Broncos had high hopes for their future at RB. But the following season, he tore his knee up never recovered and his short career came to an end.

So for Vikings fans, there are some hope that AP can return to top form, while there are others who think this could be the beginning of the end for a career which could of been beyond promising for one Adrian Peterson.