Last night’s contest between the Chicago Bears and the San Francisco 49ers, in that team’s brand new stadium, was hijacked by the zebras. More penalties than plays, it sometimes seemed. And the ratings were off a little but still good enough to beat the Miss America contest. But if a ratings slide were the worst news possible for the NFL, then the league would happily take that.

Following the week in which the Ray Rice video became public and another star (Adrian Peterson) was charged with endangering a child through excessive discipline, the NFL finds itself in Washington’s crosshairs.  As Mike Allen of Politico Playbook reports, the league: