After a week of punishing coverage from every major news outlet—but none more aggressively than ESPN, which hammered the NFL continually from about every angle they could muster—the NFL’s Sunday Night Football ratings dropped by 15% from the previous week.

Deadline reports:

The Chicago Bears may have beaten the San Francisco 49ers last night but for Sunday Night Football (7.6/21) it was NBC that took a tackle in preliminary numbers. Week 2 of the 2014 NFL season on SNF was down 15% from the 9.0/26 that September 7 premiere pulled in among adults 18-49. Approximately 23.69 million viewers watched last week’s SNF as opposed to the 19.43 million who watched last night. Fast nationals to fast nationals, last week’s SNF had an 8.0/22, up 5% from last night’s game. As always with live sports like SNF expect a larger than usually adjustment later.

Perhaps it’s just the result of an enthusiasm gap following opening weekend. But another possibility is it’s the logical result of ESPN et al seemingly trying their best to kill the golden goose by replacing entertainment-oriented coverage of America's most popular sport by far with 24-hour social commentary. Is the NFL and some of its players in large part to blame for the negative press? Sure. Should ESPN and others cover the social issues? Of course. But is it wise for sports news outlets to insist on blitzing the public with moralizing rants at their biggest moneymakers' expense?