While it ended on a high note, this was a season the NFL would rather forget.
Far too many ACLs were torn and far too many brains were concussed, and far too many of those ACLs and brains belonged to professional football's biggest names.
Television ratings sank again, partly because there were too many dud games in big spots, partly because the league had the audacity to let its players exercise their rights by peacefully protesting during the national anthem, and party because the rulebook became more confusing than the finale of Lost.