Imrem: NFL done in by its own popularity
The NFL has learned that popularity has a downside because everyone knows where to find you.
Seriously, I could have told the league that it's nice to be loved by the masses but that all my Pulitzer Prizes, huge salaries and fawning supermodels have been accompanied by too much attention.
The NFL became hooked on the publicity that comes with popularity. The league relished feeding interest all 12 months of the year.
By the time this season kicked off, so much fluff had been blurted about the NFL that it seemed like the playoffs should be starting already.
Take the Bears. More was written about long snappers in training camp than about the long wars in the Middle East.
Only two Bears developments of consequence occurred - a third receiver was injured and another was signed to replace him - but news outlets concocted Bears bombshells on a daily basis.
Bulletin: Jay Cutler burped, choirs of fans in Bourbonnais sang "Happy Burpday to You," and a metropolitan holiday was declared.
Bulletin: A rookie running back was presented the key to several suburban villages after making a special-teams tackle.
Bulletin: A national cable-TV network is planning a three-part series on how a backup offensive lineman potty trains his firstborn.
OK, those are exaggerations, but you get the idea: The NFL and the Bears have been everywhere for all to see all the time.
The only problem with the endless attention is that when everybody knows your name and where to find you, so does trouble.
The Bears haven't been caught doing anything wrong recently but on Wednesday celebrity attorney Gloria Allred dug deep into Roger Goodell by digging deep for old cases involving Brandon Marshall from his days with the Broncos.
For a long time this league figured that all news is good news - especially when it controlled the message and N-F-L was spelled correctly - because it had bulletproof status.
That theory failed to withstand the current test of one running back punching his fiancee and another allegedly physically abusing his 4-year-old son.
While stadiums still were full over the weekend and TV ratings still high, a Seattle Times article suggested Wednesday that the NFL has been knocked off its lofty perch of popularity:
"A new survey by New York-based research firm Brand Keys, which has done past consulting work for the NFL, found the league dropped from first to third place in 'fan loyalty' as a result of the (Ray) Rice scandal."
Apparently the survey results had the NFL behind MLB and the NBA even before the Adrian Peterson revelations surfaced.
Brand Keys president Robert Passikoff was quoted as saying, "When you have a high degree of loyalty to begin with, people tend to give you the benefit of the doubt. But it isn't a bottomless well. It's not a magic wand. Loyalty only extends so far."
The NHL could absorb multiple scandals and not dominate the news, but a league as popular and visible as the NFL is vulnerable.
When pro football takes a forearm shiver to the side of its head, the country cares, cringes and contemplates.
It's difficult to recall a sports story, or any story, that raged on and on like this one has.
Still, loyalty survey notwithstanding, the NFL will come out on the other side just fine. New running backs will come along, new procedures to discipline them will be instituted, and perhaps a new commissioner will replace Goodell.
Then the NFL will pass MLB and NBA again and everyone will get back to the national passion of winking at concussions, drug use and Jay Cutler's inconsistent mechanics.
This league is too ingrained in American culture and has too solid a formula for success to take too big a hit for too long.
However, the NFL should understand now that with popularity comes responsibility.