NFL finally paying for its double standards and hypocrisy

Written By Pat Imig
(Getty Images)

The League of Integrity, the National Football League, is beginning to learn it's not infallible after all.

Early TV ratings reports show viewership is down in prime-time games and in featured national telecasts.

The NFL Kickoff game on NBC was down from a year ago, and the Week 3 "Sunday Night Football" telecast between major markets Dallas and Chicago was down 7 percent from 2015 (Denver-Detroit). That's pretty significant when you consider the market sizes.

We also have seen the two lowest-rated "Monday Night Football" telecasts since at least 2009, which includes a Week 2 snoozer between Philadelphia and Chicago. The Week 3 contest between Atlanta and New Orleans drew a 5.7 overnight rating, which would be the lowest MNF rating ever on ESPN. The number is down 36 percent from one year ago, with much of that due to the first mudslinging presidential debate.

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There are other factors that are uncontrollable: cord-cutting, the social appetite for instantaneous results via social media, etc. But that's an evolutionary change, not one of complete fan abandonment.

However you look at it, the early-season viewership decline should be cause for concern for the NFL. I won't hold my breath, though. The NFL is as bombastic as it is hypocritical.

There are a number of factors turning people away, not the least of which is Time magazine's cover of Colin Kaepernick.

National anthem protests

An independent survey of 1,128 Americans conducted after Week 1 showed 44 percent of respondents would shut off the NFL entirely if national anthem protests continued.

Perhaps not coincidentally, the Week 2 protests were largely ignored by the network broadcasts. And maybe that's how it should be when you consider that of the nearly 1,700 players in the NFL, fewer than 60 have protested. In other words, fewer than 4 percent of all players.

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Freedom-of-expression double standards

Commissioner Roger Goodell took a neutral stance on the player protests, offering support for their right to express their opinions. Make no mistake about the fact that on the surface, Goodell loves this mainstream attention.

If the NFL can be a beacon of social awareness and act as an agent of change, all the better. That will change, of course, if advertisers see it differently.

It's quite hypocritical that Goodell allows players to protest during the national anthem. After all, he runs a league that assessed a 15-yard penalty on Packers linebacker Nick Perry in Week 3 for making a throat-slash gesture.

It's the same league that penalized Dolphins receiver Jarvis Landry for celebrating a touchdown in Week 3 by hugging the goal post like Mario, Luigi and Antonio Brown.

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Guess whose celebration is on Yep, Jarvis Landry's. The same celebration that was penalized.

"That's illegal, Jarvis! But if you want to protest during the national anthem, go right ahead. We're the League of Change. In the meantime, we're gonna celebrate our discipline over you right now on"

Protests are patriotic but not paid for

Perhaps the pregame protests are the NFL's way of welcoming "patriotism," but as we all know, the NFL pays for its patriotism.

On a day (Sunday) when Major League Baseball mourned the passing of one of its brightest stars, with many players carrying tributes to Jose Fernandez on their caps and shoes, I couldn't help but think that the NFL would fine and punish those players if it governed over them.

This is the same league, after all, that fined DeAngelo Williams for wearing the words "Find A Cure" during Breast Cancer Awareness month, in honor of his mother who died of the disease. But, hey, protest during the national anthem. We want you to use your voice and express yourself.

Can you see why people might be turned off or have tuned out or will consider doing so?

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League of Integrity is the league of Goodell

The root of football fans' disenchantment might very well be Kaepernick, but I don't think it is. Kaepernick is the culmination, not the catalyst. He's more a symbol for the larger issue at hand: Goodell.

The commissioner's track record of botching incidents of domestic assault is well-documented, but I can't let myself forget about it on any given Sunday - because I can't get away from it.

Look at Giants kicker Josh Brown, for example. He connected on both of his field-goal attempts and converted all three of his extra point kicks in the Giants' 29-27 loss to the Redskins in Week 3.

Brown was suspended for the first game of the season after being arrested in connection with a domestic violence incident. The baseline policy for a violation of the NFL's personal conduct policy is a six-game punishment, but Brown was never formally charged by law enforcement.

As such, the League of Integrity figured a one-game suspension would be plenty, having apparently learned nothing from the Ray Rice incident and years of incompetent law and order.

Goodell is the same man who presided over a predestined decision by Stan Kroenke and Jerry Jones to move the NFL Rams to Los Angeles. Just last week, he said he really feels for the people of St. Louis - a hypocritical, soulless statement if there ever was one. Disclaimer: I live in St. Louis.

Quality of play, referee control = disenchantment

While there is plenty off-field activity to disenchant and disappoint the most ardent American football fan, the on-field product is suffering.

Some of it is by necessity. The highlight-reel hits have been reduced in the spirit of health and longevity, which I totally get. What I don't get is why we haven't figured out what is and isn't a catch. The question has plagued NFL fans, players and coaches for several years now.

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Questions still abound regarding Deflategate, such as: Why is Tom Brady suspended four games when Josh Brown was suspended one game for a domestic violence arrest (you might have heard about that)?

And questions persist about why NFL officials call automatic first-down penalties on fourth-and-21, or why NFL officials seemingly govern with the intent to look for infractions on every play instead of calling every play with clear mental and optical vision. Maybe they're trying to create more scoring?

It's Goodell, stupid

Fan discontentment and disenchantment might be more evident with Kaepernick's protest, but I truly believe it's the culmination of years of ignorance and bliss, otherwise known as the Goodell Era.

Just like the housing market crash, the NFL's bubble could burst. That doesn't mean it's going away, but the tide will turn against the NFL unless it is willing to fix the in-house issues that have festered for far too long.

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Humility isn't the NFL's forte, so this admission will never come to fruition. But let's face reality: Fantasy football is the lifeblood of the league. At some point, the league will probably purchase and run its own fantasy operation.

In the meantime, the next few weeks will be very telling for the league's short-term standing. One way or another, we'll know if people really have walked away from what was America's game.

Pat Imig is a host of "We Are Live!" on 590 The Fan in St. Louis. He thinks NFL commissioners should have term limits. Tweet him @patrickimig or email: