The NFL fined Dallas Cowboys tight end Jake Ferguson for a “poor taste” celebration, and the league’s decision keeps getting worse. 

What started as a controversial batch of fines for celebrations pretending to chug a beer reported during the week became even more disappointing on Saturday, when the NFL’s accountability portal confirmed the penalties. And not only that, it revealed an additional one for another Cowboys player for the same reason.

Ferguson was fined $13,611 for what the NFL is calling an “offensive demonstration that could reasonably be construed as being in poor taste.” Spann-Ford, who joined Ferguson in the celebration by pretending to shotgun a beer with him, was fined $10,417 for the same reason. Ferguson wasn’t the only player hit with a fine. Indianapolis Colts offensive lineman Matt Goncalves and San Francisco 49ers fullback Kyle Juszczyk were also fined for similar celebrations.

The hypocrisy is hard to ignore

Come on, now. The NFL makes over a quarter of a billion dollars every year from its beer sponsorship. It promotes beer on game days in stadiums and on television. Fans in the stands are drinking beer. Football and beer have gone hand in hand forever. Even this became a marketing campaign for Bud Light (more on that later). And yet, when players pretend to drink one after scoring a touchdown, the league reaches into their pockets.

Juszczyk, for his part, alleges he was pretending to drink juice, which would make some sense. He’s been doing variations of that celebration for years, and his nickname is “Juice” because of his last name. Regardless, the NFL lumped him in with the rest.

For a moment, this looked like a marketing stunt

I’m not going to lie to you, I really thought for a second this could be some kind of coordinated marketing play between the NFL and its beer partner. Bud Light, the league’s official beer sponsor, sent out marketing emails and posted on social media promoting what it called the “Celly Jar,” giving fans $37,384 to celebrate. That number is the combined amount of the three fines that were initially reported earlier in the week.

When I saw Bud Light running a campaign off of the fines, I thought maybe Adam Schefter was in on it. Maybe the whole thing was a stunt. I figured Saturday would tell us for sure, because that’s when the NFL officially publishes fines in its accountability portal. If the players weren’t listed, it meant the fines weren’t real and it was all part of a Bud Light marketing campaign.

But no, Saturday got here and the NFL did indeed fine Ferguson. And to make matters worse, they also fined Spann-Ford, who wasn’t even part of the original wave of reports and didn’t even initiate the celebration. Spann-Ford simply saw his teammate celebrating and joined in, sharing a moment with Ferguson. The NFL penalized him for it.

Appeals are coming

ESPN’s Todd Archer reported that Ferguson is appealing the fine. Juszczyk and Goncalves are also expected to appeal. I would imagine Spann-Ford will try to do the same.

According to the NFL operations website, these appeals are heard by independently assigned joint appeals officers chosen and paid jointly by the NFL and the NFL Players Association. Cases are assigned randomly, so neither side in the appeal process knows who will hear a case. The officer’s decision is final and the ruling is binding.

Public opinion seems to be firmly on the side of the players, and it’s not difficult to understand why. The NFL promotes beer at every turn and profits handsomely from it, then fines players for mimicking the act of drinking one. It’s the kind of contradictory stance that makes you wonder what the league is thinking.

For now, we wait on those appeal decisions. And if you ask me, the NFL would be wise to take this one back before it becomes a bigger story than it already is.