Instant reaction to Vikings news conference

Vikings owner Mark Wilf said two things that cannot be disputed on Wednesday after the team decided to suspend Adrian Peterson.

He said: ``We made a mistake'' when deciding earlier this week that Peterson should play this Sunday.

He also said: ``It's a fluid situation.''

Yes, it is.

Once Anheuser-Busch, one of the NFL's foremost sponsors, publicly upbraided the Vikings' decision, all that beer swept away the Vikings' previous decision.

That's why the Vikings decided to suspend Peterson, with pay: Because of the fear of major sponsors running away from the team and the league.

Vikings owner Zygi Wilf offered a prepared statement on Wednesday morning at Winter Park but did not take questions.

The most repeated phrase of the press conference: ``We believe we got it right.''

Yes, they got it right after public backlash and the threat of sponsor retreat made playing Peterson untenable.

I don't blame Spielman for this or for being unable to offer any big-picture questions about Peterson on Monday. He's a wielder of stopwatches and personnel decisions. He's not equipped to speak on child abuse by his best player.

Warren is a legal expert. He emphasized that ``It's very clear that the Minnesota Vikings are the ones who initiated this process.''

The Wilfs were the people who got this wrong to begin with and who underestimated what the reaction would be to playing an admitted child abuser.

Where is the NFL commissioner?

Roger Goodell is paid $44 million a year by NFL owners to be the corporate face of the NFL.

He rose through the NFL as a public relations expert.

When the NFL needed him the most, he ducked under the NFL's cloak of invisibility.

He hasn't merely appeared weak while mismanaging the disciplining of Ray Rice and Peterson.

Warren said the Vikings ``initiated'' the process of suspending Peterson, and that the commissioner then granted the Vikings an exemption to allow them to pay Peterson and keep his rights.

In other words, while cowering in his Manhattan offices and collecting his millions, Goodell needed the Vikings' obviously overwhelmed braintrust to suggest a solution to the league's latest nightmare.

Goodell should be embarrassed.

It doesn't seem like that's an option for him.

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