TEAM: The Minnesota Vikings

SEVERITY:

SUMMARY: Performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs) are used by players to illegally improve athletic performance above what legal training and preparation can do.

Players who illegally improve their performance unfairly penalize players who follow the rules. They not only put those players at risk for physical injury, but they also affect their economic livelihood by impacting their perceived value and their ability to secure appropriately-valued playing contracts.

SEVERITY = 0.5 video cameras per punished incident. Includes all documented infractions from 1960 to present with this Wikipedia page as the primary source.

• LB Artie Ulmer (1997)
• OG Bob Sapp (1998)
• TE Byron Chamberlain (2003)
• DE Ray Edwards (2007)
• DT Kevin Williams (2011)
• DT Pat Williams (2011)
• OT DeMarcus Love (2013)
• DE Spencer Nealy (2014)

VICTIM: The entire league

PUNISHED? Yes

PUNISHMENT: Kevin Williams was suspended for two games and the remaining players were suspended for four games for violating the league's performance-enhancing drug policy. Pat Williams was no longer with the Vikings when his appeal was denied in 2011. His positive test, however, came in 2008 when he was with the team.

SHARE: http://YourTeamCheats.com/MIN#PEDSgate-1997

AWARDS EARNED: Everyone Was Doing It!

CHEATPOINTS EARNED:+ 8.0

TEAM: The Minnesota Vikings

SEVERITY:

SUMMARY: During an ESPN.com chat, then-ESPN analyst Jeremy Green admitted the Vikings used fake crowd noise when his father, Dennis Green, was the coach there. Both the Colts and the Vikings, who play in domed stadiums, admittedly play loud music to distract the opponent, and are famous for unfailingly-loud crowds, but both teams staunchly deny they artificially enhance their fans' cheers.

Former New Orleans Saints offensive coordinator Mike McCarthy was convinced that the Vikings augmented the crowd noise through the public-address system tin the 2000 playoffs.

VICTIM: The entire league

PUNISHED? No

SHARE: http://YourTeamCheats.com/MIN#Noisegate-1992

CHEATPOINTS EARNED:+ 4.0

TEAM: The Minnesota Vikings

SEVERITY:

SUMMARY: Former Minnesota Viking wide receiver Cris Carter confessed to Mike Hill and Mark Schlereth of ESPN Radio on Tuesday that he did indeed pay what he called "protection money" to do what needed to be done.

"I'm guilty of [bounties] -- I mean, first time I've ever admitted it -- but I put a bounty on guys before," Carter said. "I put bounties on guys. If a guy tries to take me out, a guy takes a cheap shot on me? I put a bounty on him right now!"

Carter, in an attempt to differentiate his Bountygate from the New Orleans Saints more famous Bountygate, admitted that his bounties were financial in nature, but that the intentions were not the same as the ones put out by Gregg Williams and his New Orleans Saints players -- these were more about "an eye for an eye" than "kill the head and the body will die."

VICTIM: The entire league

PUNISHED? No but ... it's more probable than not that this was cheating

PUNISHMENT: He flat out admitted that he was "guilty"

SHARE: http://YourTeamCheats.com/MIN#Bountygate-1995

AWARDS EARNED: Hip-Hip-Hypocritical!

CHEATPOINTS EARNED:+ 3.0

TEAM: The Minnesota Vikings

SEVERITY:

SUMMARY: In November 2014, The Minnesota Vikings played their coldest home game in 38 years, when they beat the Carolina Panthers in 12-degree temperatures at TCF Bank Stadium.

As both teams dealt with the freezing temperatures, Fox cameras showed (at 2 min. 50 sec. of the embedded video) sideline attendants using heaters to warm up game balls, which was against league rules. NFL vice president of officiating Dean Blandino said the day after the game that officials warned both the Vikings and Panthers not to heat up the balls during Sunday's game, and would remind teams this week not to heat game balls.

"You can't do anything with the footballs in terms of any artificial, whether you're heating them up, whether it's a regular game ball or kicking ball, you can't do anything to the football," Blandino said. "So that was noticed during the game, both teams were made aware of it during the game and we will certainly remind the clubs as we get into more cold weather games that you can't do anything with the football in terms of heating them up with those sideline heaters."

VICTIM: The entire league

PUNISHED? No

PUNISHMENT: Looks like it was only the Panthers, not the Vikings. The footage shown on NFL Network is from the Vikings sideline, though there are attendants from both teams on both sidelines and a league source said the Vikings weren't heating up the balls during the game.

SHARE: http://YourTeamCheats.com/MIN#Heatergate-2014

AWARDS EARNED: Falsely Accused!

CHEATPOINTS EARNED:+ 0.0

TEAM: The Minnesota Vikings

SEVERITY:

SUMMARY: In 2008, The Green Bay Packers filed a tampering charge against the Minnesota Vikings for communicating with retired quarterback Brett Favre. Favre, who was on the reserve-retired list, was still the property of the Packers, which left the quarterback off limits for conversations with coaches or front-office employees of another team.

The Packers contended that Favre, who had asked the Packers for his release, had been talking with Vikings offensive coordinator Darrell Bevell, who had become friends with Favre when he was an assistant coach with the Packers.

Commissioner Roger Goodell said that while there were conversations between then-retired Favre and Vikings coaches, none of the conversations suggested Favre was soliciting a job or that anyone was soliciting his services.

VICTIM: Green Bay Packers

PUNISHED? No

PUNISHMENT: Goodell found the Vikings innocent of the charge

SHARE: http://YourTeamCheats.com/MIN#Tampergate-2008

AWARDS EARNED: Falsely Accused!

CHEATPOINTS EARNED:+ 0.0

TEAM: All 32 NFL Teams

SEVERITY:

SUMMARY: Tampering with free agents is rampant, it's laughable and it is against the rules (PDF). It's so bad across every team in the league that the NFL had to create a three-day legal tampering period. However, tampering still regularly occurs long before that annual three-day window opens. On March 9, 2015 the league once again felt compelled to warn all 32 teams about not tampering.

Why is tampering considered a problem? Because tampering with players still under contract makes it difficult for clubs to re-sign their own talent. It also puts those few teams that actually follow NFL guidelines at a distinct disadvantage. In many cases, contract agreements are in place days before any negotiations are allowed to begin.

This isn't fair, it isn't legal, and it is blatant cheating by the teams who engage in the practice.

VICTIM: The entire league

PUNISHED? No but...

PUNISHMENT: NFL commissioner and former Jets public relations intern Roger Goodell is doing all he can to curtail and punish the "commonplace" practice, although it admits that there is so much tampering that it is hard to police it all.

The CheatPoints earned for this leaguewide cheat is for all of this team's tampering incidents that have gone undiscovered or unproven. If specific instances are discovered, they are punished on top of this leaguewide penalty.

SHARE: http://YourTeamCheats.com/MIN#Tampergate-1960

AWARDS EARNED:Everyone Was Doing It!

CHEATPOINTS EARNED:+ 4.0

TEAM: All 32 NFL Teams

SEVERITY:

SUMMARY: it's a common complaint around the NFL. In late, close games, the helmet communicators of visiting teams suddenly "malfunction" and stop working. It has been accepted as standard practice in the league. Are you on the road and the game is close? Then you are going to have problems with your headset.

In recent years, the Patriots have accused the Colts of doing it and the Jaguars have made the same charge of the Patriots. The Redskins accused the Buccaneers of disabling their headsets, and Tampa Bay accused Dallas. The Giants openly bragged about doing it way back in 1956. The charges go on and on and on.

VICTIM: The entire league

PUNISHED? No

SHARE: http://YourTeamCheats.com/MIN#Headsetgate-1980

CHEATPOINTS EARNED:+ 4.0

TEAM: All 32 NFL Teams

SEVERITY:

SUMMARY: Stealing your opponent's signals has always been common and never been illegal.

Said former Pittsburgh Steelers head coach Bill Cowher, "We had people that always tried to steal signals. Stealing someone's signals was a part of the game, and everyone attempted to do that." Admitted former Dallas Cowboys head coach Jimmy Johnson: "When I came into the NFL, back in 1989, I talked to a Kansas City scout and he said, 'Here's what we do, we videotape the opposing team's signals and then we sync it up with the game film.' So I did it." Bragged, former Denver Broncos head coach Mike Shanahan: "Our guy keeps a pair of binoculars on their signal-callers every game, with any luck, we have their defensive signals figured out by halftime. Sometimes, by the end of the first quarter."

NFL commissioner and former Jets public relations intern Rodger Goodell confirmed this himself in 2008, saying that the issue was not stealing signals, that is allowed "and it is done quite widely." The issue is where and how you record them. If you chose to videotape them, then (after 2006) you have to do that from a league approved location. If you hire lip readers, they can do it from your coaches lap, if you want.

After 2006, examples of allowed videotaping locations are: the luxury boxes, media booths and other enclosed spaces. Expressly prohibited locations are the sidelines, the field, locker rooms, the coaches booth or any other place accessible to team coaches and staff. The point of the rule is to not allow the footage to be useful in the current game.

Prior to the September 6, 2006 memo and, 2007 follow up, from NFL head of football operations Ray Anderson, there was no league restriction on filming location, which is the reason the memo was sent.

Many NFL head coaches have downplayed the significance of the practice, saying that attempting to decipher opponent's signals was a long standing practice and entirely common throughout the league.

VICTIM: The entire league

PUNISHED? No

PUNISHMENT: NFL commissioner and former Jets public relations intern Rodger Goodell suggested that the responsibility was on teams to conceal their messages, not on the ones trying to steal them. During his news conference before the 2007 Super Bowl he said that any coach who did not expect signals to be stolen was "stupid."

Prior to 2006, every NFL team is assumed to have done it, but none of them broke a rule. You can't punish something that is not prohibited. Filming from the sidelines was not prohibited until 2006 and filming your opponent's signals from approved locations has never been prohibited, even today.

SHARE: http://YourTeamCheats.com/MIN#Spygate-1960

AWARDS EARNED:Everyone Was Doing It!

CHEATPOINTS EARNED:+ 0.0

TEAM: All 32 NFL Teams

SEVERITY:

SUMMARY: Sign an opponent's recently-cut player to your practice squad to get intel on their plays, signals and tactics. This is not illegal and is a leaguewide practice.

Said one player, who chose to remain anonymous as he was still in the league as of 2015, "If teams have an opening at a certain position, they might not be looking for perhaps the best player to fill it on their practice squad. Instead, they might go for someone who has access to the opposing team’s playbook."

“Let’s say we’re playing the Jaguars in seven days and you want to know more about their playbook. From time to time teams will sign people off of practice squads. You don’t have to put them on active roster so if there’s a need for more depth at linebacker and you’re playing Jacksonville, there would be more of a chance to sign a linebacker off the team you’re about to play’s practice squad and hoping that the person you’re about to sign will divulge information about the playbook.”

VICTIM: The entire league

PUNISHED? No

PUNISHMENT: Not illegal.

SHARE: http://YourTeamCheats.com/MIN#Scrapsgate-1960

AWARDS EARNED:Everyone Was Doing It!

CHEATPOINTS EARNED:+ 0.0