The 2014-15 NFL season will end with Sunday’s Super Bowl and not a minute too soon, either. This wasn’t a football season; it was a prime-time reality TV show. It delivered more dirt than a day with the Kardashians. Just give this thing the last rites and let’s move on.
The NFL season isn’t racing to a big finish this weekend; it is staggering. Even the Super Bowl has a pall over it, "Deflategate" having sucked the air out of it, as it were. The NFL’s 95th season is ending the way it began: under a cloud.
Remember when the NFL could do no wrong? Now the league can’t do anything right. It’s a public relations nightmare. It’s what happens when bad management, bad acts and bad luck meet social media and political correctness.
How bad did things get? Even the cheerleaders were suing the league (and winning).
Roll the highlight video:
Ray Rice slugged his fiancee in a casino elevator. Commissioner Roger Goodell let the whole business slide — Bud Selig-like — for months until it was fourth-and-long and he had to punt after the emergence of a second video. Until then, Goodell had meted out more punishment for a player who bullied a teammate his own size than for a player who had hit a woman. There was an independent investigation and calls for Goodell’s job. Even Congress got involved.
Things didn’t get any better when the Panthers’ Greg Hardy and the 49ers’ Ray McDonald were arrested for domestic violence, with the Niners keeping McDonald in the lineup until another investigation was launched against him, this time for sexual assault. Suddenly, the NFL looked like a home for Neanderthals.
Can we get back to football?
No. There was also the Adrian Peterson child abuse case, which was followed by more public angst.
Who knew the NFL was going to be a staple for "The View"?
OK, we’re used to players misbehaving — please, see Michael Vick, Plaxico Burress, Aaron Hernandez, etc. — but owners? The Colts’ Jim Irsay was arrested for a DUI.
The Redskins name continued to be a source of contention.
Cheerleaders filed lawsuits against the league for unfair labor practices, which included $5-per-hour wages paid by teams that are worth billions. The Raiderettes won a $1.25 million settlement, and current and former cheerleaders from the Bills, Bengals, Buccaneers and Jets also sued their clubs.
Yea, team!
Meanwhile, Johnny Manziel treated his rookie year like one long frat party, and Josh Gordon got hit with his annual suspension. At least everything was fine on the field. Well, except that referees threw a flag for a huge pass interference call in the final minutes of the Cowboys-Lions playoff game and then changed their minds, thus securing a win for the Cowboys. A week later, karma struck when the refs overturned a goal-line catch by Dez Bryant in the closing minutes of the Cowboys-Packers playoff game, cementing the win for the Packers.
Both calls generated an outpouring of commentary and outrage.
And just when it looked like enough was enough, along came "Deflategate" in which footballs used by the Patriots during their conference championship rout of the Colts were underinflated, which is considered an advantage. Aided and abetted by loose lips in the NFL office, the media swooped in to put Patriots coach Bill Belichick and quarterback Tom Brady on trial, and the inflation of footballs became the topic de jour. For an entire week there were numerous commentaries about how crooked the team is and who sounded guilty and who didn’t.
Instead of talking about the Super Bowl, the focus has been on Deflategate.
Oops, now it turns out there is no evidence the Patriots had anything to do with it and owner Robert Kraft is expressing righteous indignation for the way the issue has been handled and reported. It was all backward. Before any facts or wrongdoing had been determined, the investigation — and the Patriots' guilt — was pretty much determined. Only now is the NFL offering no comment on the case.
Memo to NFL: Turn the lights out when you’re done.
Doug Robinson's columns run on Tuesdays and Wednesdays. Email: drob@deseretnews.com