TV ratings for NFL games continue to slide as National Anthem protests persist.  Overall, ratings are down 18.7% since 2015.

ESPN:

"If ratings don't improve materially, we see a potential headwind to domestic advertising revenues," the investment bank's analyst Omar Sheikh wrote of Fox on Thursday.

On Monday, Sheikh estimated third-quarter revenue for CBS would be off 3 percent, versus the previously projected 1 percent, due to "soft ratings for both the summer [programming] and for the start of the NFL season."

Through six weeks (seven games), ESPN's Monday Night Football viewership is averaging 11.2 million viewers, a 6 percent increase through Week 6, compared with last year.

The small increase in MNF ratings are almost certainly due to weak counter-programming on other networks. 

Meanwhile, Goodell is looking to play King Solomon with the anthem protest issue – except he actually wants to go through with cutting the baby in half, acknowledging the legitimacy of the players' protests while telling the fans he's really on their side.

Faced with such awful stats, it's incontrovertible that if Goodell were himself a player, he'd have already been cut.

But Goodell is clearly intent on retaining possession of his commissionership. His game plan appears to be encouraging players to remain committed to "the issues in their communities" while also telling fans he agrees these athletes should stand for the national anthem. 

Over the last two days Goodell has huddled with NFL team owners and the Players Association. Speaking to the press about how he intends to salvage the season, Goodell came up incomplete. As he fumbled for words, a very odd verbal tic emerged. 

Over the course of about 20 minutes before the press, Goodell used the same two words no fewer than 45 times. 

Watch the montage above to see this bizarre verbal tic in action. 

If Goodell is seeking to make both sides happy, he is failing miserably.  The players want nothing less than the complete, unwavering support of the league office for their protests.  The owners – like Goodell – just want the issue to go away.

Week by week, the fans get angrier and angrier.  I don't envy Goodell.  Player discipline, ideally, should be in the hands of individual teams.  And the owners are too cowardly to stand up to those who disrespect the flag.

So we're left with a spineless commissioner, cowardly owners, hostile players, and angry fans.  That mix is not conducive to improving TV ratings or the perception of the NFL, which continues to fall in popularity and respect by the fans.