Now that the NFL has finally leveled its punishment at Josh Gordon—a season-long break—it’s time to pick apart this debacle. Rather than pretend like any single person or group is solely responsible, I’m just going to blame everyone. Strap in folks, because in the end, today was a death knell to common sense. It was stupidity on top of stupidity on top of (you guessed it) stupidity.

Let’s start with Josh Gordon.

One of the most difficult things about discussing this for Browns fans is looking like a homer. That perception isn’t aided by the fact that Josh Gordon’s history makes him close to indefensible. This is a guy who has well-documented struggles with passing drug tests. This is a guy who used up yet another chance with a positive test for Codeine just last season. This is a guy who couldn’t lay low enough to keep from, not one, but two brushes with the law since news came out of his “failed” test the day after the NFL draft. There’s being your own worst enemy and then there’s pure, unhinged self-destruction. Josh Gordon is closer to the latter than the former, so it’s tough to really defend him and not feel blind to reality.

Let’s forget Gordon’s history though and just look at this test. The scientific method took a blow today if the reports about the testing methodology are true. Just as a reminder, Josh Gordon’s sample was split into two parts. The first tested just over the ridiculously low limit and the second was just under the ridiculously low limit. To most people I know, that’s inconclusive at best, especially in the face of a reported 70 drug tests that Josh Gordon passed in and around the problematic one. For the NFL, that’s enough to rule it a positive test and enact the one-year collectively bargained punishment. Which leads me to the NFLPA.

NFLPA President DeMaurice Smith isn’t having a good day. Forget the fact that he’s facing strong competition for his job from former defensive lineman Sean Gilbert. Smith is the one who collectively bargained this for the NFL players who pay his salary. The players likely aren’t looking around at each other nodding in approval how the union is taking care of their best interests the way the Josh Gordon situation turned out. Smith has been critical of the policy and complained that it is the way it is because of Roger Goodell’s obsession with power.

Smith spoke about the back and forth between the player’s union and the league over HGH testing, which is seen as the bargaining chip for the overall drug policy. “As we sit here today, the comprehensive drug policy that would vastly improve the integrity of the game (with HGH testing) is being held up because one man cares more about his power than the integrity of the game that they preach.” Smith can sling arrows at Roger Goodell all he wants, but it might not be enough to save his job as a player like Josh Gordon—who might not have actually even ingested marijuana—is suspended for a full season under the existing policy.

[Related: #FreeJoshGordon, Kevin Love, LeBron James, Uber and public urination – WFNY Podcast]

Which brings us to Roger Goodell and the NFL. If you believe anything DeMaurice Smith says, you have to assume that Roger Goodell doesn’t care about fairness or the wellbeing of players like Josh Gordon as much as he cares about maintaining his power. He’s doing his job as the owners’ designated bad guy, but as a league he’s leading a losing effort from a public relations standpoint. Instead of reforming a drug policy that is punitive and counter-productive to actually helping players by coming to the bargaining table, he’ll levy penalties and presumably sit and wait for it to become so unbearable that the players will just give in on all fronts.

Now, I’ll sit and wait for the final decision to come on Jim Irsay after his day in court. I understand why everyone wants to compare Josh Gordon to Ray Rice and assign a judgement of values by the league based on the disparity of those two situations. They’re somewhat apples and oranges, but I understand the comparison. An even more apt comparison for me will be Irsay and Josh Gordon. While Josh Gordon operates under a much different set of standards because his are subject to the CBA and the union, the NFL punishes owners at its own discretion. It’s conceivable that they could have used some of that discretion with Josh Gordon, and in the end did not. When it is completely at their discretion with Jim Irsay—assuming he ends up in some kind of trouble—what will they levy at him? It won’t matter much for anything other than public relations, but this is all supposed to be entertainment, right? I can’t wait to see how it’s handled.

That’s enough blame to go around for now, I guess. The NFL has punished Josh Gordon. Finally. The Browns know what they have to deal with, and so does Josh Gordon. The rules were applied to the letter and I’m left with one question: At what cost?

Today marks a bitter defeat of common sense. Shortly after the news came out, I posed this question on Twitter and it’s the thing I’m still left wondering: Name one person who was helped by the Josh Gordon decision today? Josh Gordon? NFL fans? The Cleveland Browns? Society? Anyone?