In the end, the anger and angst over Adrian Peterson had little to do with child abuse, a contract, a Twitter diatribe or a troublemaking agent. There was only one truly mortal sin he could commit, and one set of magic words that would earn him absolution.
He said them Tuesday: "I'm happy where I'm at here with the Minnesota Vikings."
And now that he has, it will astonish you how quickly the rest of it never happened.
Oh, there will be talk of personal growth and redemption. There will be breakdowns of the schematic and salary cap implications.