With the arrest of Minnesota Vikings cornerback, Chris Cook, on charges of felony domestic assault/strangulation and fifth degree domestic assault, the Vikings have managed to pull into first place as the most arrested team in the NFL.

SignOnSanDiego.com has been tracking NFL player arrests dating back to 2000 and offers a great database for looking up the NFL’s tax subsidized misfits.

As of 10/14/2011, Sign on San Diego’s database had the Minnesota Vikings tied for #1 with the Cincinnati Bengals, which was gain (in a negative way) for the Vikings who were two arrests behind Cincinnati (32-30) back in July 2010:

NFL Player Arrests Per Team Since 2000

NFL Player Arrests by Team

36 – Minnesota
35 – Cincinnati
32 – Denver
30 – Tennessee
26 – Kansas City
25 – Chargers
25 – Jacksonville
25 – Miami
24 – Tampa Bay
22 – Cleveland
22 – Indianapolis
19 – Chicago
19 – New Orleans
17 – Pittsburgh
17 – Washington
16 – Baltimore
16 – Carolina
16 – Green Bay
16 – Seattle
15 – Oakland
14 – Atlanta
14 – Buffalo
12 – New England
11 – Dallas
11 – N.Y. Giants
10 – Philadelphia
9 – Arizona
9 – Houston
9 – San Francisco
8 – N.Y. Jets
7 – Detroit
7 – St. Louis

Vikings players now have twice as many as many arrests as the league average over this time frame.

Worse Under Wilf

Things have gotten worse since Zygi Wilf purchased the team from Red McCombs in 2005. Here is a look at the average annual Vikings player arrest rates by owner:

Average Minnesota Vikings Players Arrested Per Year by Team Owner

The Vikings most embarrassing off-field annual performance to date remains 2005, which included the infamous Lake Minnetonka boat cruise incident on the night of October 6, 2005.

At the time, Zygi Wilf said to the press:

“Lack of discipline will no longer be tolerated at any level. The events of the past week are unacceptable. If there was any sense that we would look the other way regarding this type of behavior, I want to make it extremely clear that this behavior will never be tolerated again.”

Since then, there have been 15 more Vikings player arrests, including multiple arrests by three players: Dwight Smith (indecent conduct in downtown Minneapolis, marijuana possession after traffic stop), Cedric Griffin (Disorderly conduct, DUI), Everson Griffen (public intoxication, felony battery), and now Chris Cook (branding a gun during a fight, domestic assault).

Perhaps the behavior that Wilf no longer tolerates is specifically taking boat cruises with prostitutes? If that’s the case, it looks like the players have been living up to his expectations.