National Football League

What took Vikings, NFL so long to answer wake-up call on Peterson?

Published Sep. 17, 2014 11:06 a.m. ET

Alex Marvez

The Minnesota Vikings finally awoke from their slumber at the ungodly hour of 1:47 am ET Wednesday.

That's when the franchise announced Adrian Peterson is being given an indefinite leave of absence. The star running back was placed on a seldom-used NFL exemption list that will keep Peterson from playing until his legal issues are resolved.

The early-morning timing was the latest bizarre move in a series of them surrounding Minnesota's handling of Peterson's child-abuse case.

But, hey, better late than never, right?

By announcing on Monday that Peterson would be allowed to rejoin the team following his deactivation for a game against New England, the Vikings became the groggy kid who keeps hitting snooze on the alarm clock until a frazzled parent enters the room screaming that they have to get to school.

This wake-up call came not from an altruistic realization that announcing Peterson's returning so quickly was a horrific mistake. The reversal stemmed from outside pressure no matter what team owners Zygi and Mark Wolf are saying.

The Vikings already lost one of their own corporate sponsors Monday in Radisson. The hotel chain immediately understood it was bad business to see its corporate logo on a Vikings backdrop as general manager Rick Spielman bumbled through a news conference trying to justify Peterson's reinstatement.

The stakes were raised even higher Tuesday when Anheuser-Busch, which signed a six-year, $1.2 billion league-wide sponsorship deal in 2013, issued a statement questioning whether it wants to remain affiliated. The beer company basically said the way the NFL is handling discipline in the Peterson-Ray Rice-Greg Hardy cases is killing its buzz.

Two prominent Minnesota politicians chimed in by saying they didn't want Peterson to play. Peterson jerseys were yanked from stores at the world's most-visited mall (Mall of America) located right outside the Twin Cities. Peterson's own charity foundation shuttered operations because of negative public backlash toward its sponsors.

All of this led to the press release proclaiming the Vikings had chosen to "revisit the situation" involving Peterson -- whom the NFLPA said in a statement decided to voluntarily took a leave with pay “to resolve this unique situation” -- and consult with NFL headquarters. What the team misguidedly thought was a "fair and balanced decision" changed after the "input we have received from our fans, our partners and the community."

"We will support Adrian during this legal and personal process, but we firmly believe and realize this is the right decision," the statement concluded. "We hope that all of our fans can respect the process that we have gone through to reach this final decision."

The "process" began smoothly when Peterson was deactivated after news broke last Friday that he was indicted by a Texas grand jury on a child-abuse charge. The photos that surfaced of welts on the legs of Peterson's 4-year-old son were as sickening as video of Rice punching his now-wife Janay in the face.

Even if the Vikings wanted Peterson to play this Sunday against New Orleans -- and heaven knows they needed him after getting trounced by the Patriots -- there was no need to trumpet those intentions. Minnesota should have known there was an extremely strong probability that more Peterson fallout would inevitably follow, including some damaging enough to force the franchise to backtrack. The haste also made it appear the Vikings had given short shrift to a thorough Peterson investigation in the same way the NFL mishandled the Rice situation by not working more diligently to get the footage that TMZ.com unearthed.

Spielman then made it worse by saying the Vikings "feel strongly as an organization that this is disciplining a child" and the club had done "due diligence" before making its decision. All of this rang hollow, especially considering the Vikings had previously taken a strong stance toward players arrested on domestic violence charges by levying a lengthy suspension against Chris Cook and immediately releasing fellow cornerback A.J. Jefferson.

Spielman would have looked far more credible by saying there is a double-standard for elite players. Peterson fits that bill. Cook and Jefferson didn't.

Regardless of whether he's exonerated of the charges, Peterson has probably taken his last carry in Minnesota. It's about more than the stain that even a not-guilty verdict can fully clean. Peterson is set to earn $12.75 million in 2015 while playing a position that no longer yields that type of massive salary even for the top rushers. He's also set to turn 30 in March, which is usually when the shelf life of a running back expires.

Combine all these factors and Peterson's options elsewhere could be limited despite his standing as one of the league's top running backs. One possibility is Dallas, where the chummy relationship between Peterson and Cowboys owner Jerry Jones was recently chronicled by ESPN.

Jones also will grant second chances. He's allowing Josh Brent to return despite the fact the defensive tackle killed one of his Cowboys teammates in 2012 by crashing a vehicle while driving drunk.

Actions like the ones alleged or proven involving players such as Brent, Peterson, Rice and Hardy resonate far beyond football. Their lives and those of the people affected are forever changed -- and not for the better.

But while this sounds cold, the NFL has more to worry about than the human element. It's a billion-dollar business that is held to higher standards than others. The public and sponsors must be convinced that the NFL is doing the right thing or its popularity suffers and the bottom line is affected. The league is teetering dangerously close to having both happen.

So while the Vikings are now moving in the right direction, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell's nightmare continues.

And there is nothing that indicates it will be ending any time soon.