More NFL Ratings Come In: League And Sports Writers In Denial (Put Some Ice On It) We the People came to understand that one of the reasons Hillary Clintons team wanted the first presidential debate on a Monday night was to go up against Monday Night Football. That way, the logic went, fans of the NFL would be diverted. Wellaccording to the Neilsen ratings out today, 81 million people tuned into the debate Hillary blinked her way through, and Monday Night Football Atlanta Falcons and New Orleans Saints only attracted a 5.7 rating which is 38% BELOW the same time frame in 2015. (The American people really wanted to see what Hillary health scare would pop up this week, but no one in control wants to admit that.) Monday night then, logically, the drop COULD be explained by the interest in the debate. Maybe. But that doesnt explain the rest of the ratings numbers for the last three weeks. Week 1 was covered in this space previously. (Article with graphics here.) The numbers were bad. Now, theyre worse. Sports Business Daily reported Monday that the overnight ratings forSunday Night Football between the Dallas Cowboys and Chicago Bears drew 18.62 million viewers and scored a 12.9 in the Neilsen ratings, which is down from 13.7 in Week 2 and 13.9 in Week 3 a year ago. Elsewhere, the early-afternoon regional slate of games on CBS dropped by 18 percent compared to Week 3 last season while FOXs 4:25 p.m. game between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Philadelphia Eagles (which saw Philly win in a surprisingly one-sided affair) dropped by 1 percent from the same time slot last season. The lone bright spot was FOXs early-afternoon slot, which went up by about 3 percent. Putting that in another form: According to almost all analysis, and comments, the reason this is the case can be summed up in two words: Roger Goodell. The analyst quoted above believes the drop is due to an inferior product on the field, and does not take the boycott movement too seriously as possibly being the reason for the drop in ratings. The commenters, on the other hand, do take it seriously. For many, Colin Kaepernick not being disciplined following his temper tantrum was the last straw. The NFL is not known as the National Felons League for nothing. In addition, the league office has consistently sided with progressivism in the face of a socially traditional fan base. Many Americans are no longer subscribing to cable even if almost all sports are now broadcast on cable networks. People who know football claim that the play is nowhere as good as it used to be. The showboating and displays to garner attention have done nothing but escalate in a country that shuns self-promotion. It was only a matter of time before something like Colin Kaepernick refusing to stand for the national anthem happened. When Goodell and the league did nothing as a whole to reprimand himthat was the end. Now, the ratings are falling, and the NFL has no one to blame but itself. If that means Roger Goodell is the problem, the OWNERS of the franchises are on the hook for letting him stay in the job. 