Stories of concussions do not affect viewership of the game for 77 percent of fans, according to the annual Burson-Marsteller Super Bowl survey. Alan Schwarz, the former New York Times reporter who exposed football’s concussion crisis, said that the issue does not discourage him from watching the N.F.L.

“I have no problem watching the N.F.L. — these are grown men making grown men’s decisions,” said Schwarz, whose investigative articles from 2007 to 2011 compelled new safety rules for players of all ages. “After being kept in the dark for so many years by their employers, they now know they could wind up brain-damaged. Fine. They’re professional daredevils. It wasn’t immoral to watch Evel Knievel. We watch stuntmen in movies.”

But even a football lifer like Eagles defensive end Chris Long is troubled by the danger of his chosen profession.

His father is the N.F.L. Hall of Famer Howie Long, who now is a football analyst for Fox Sports. His brother Kyle is an offensive lineman for the Chicago Bears. Chris Long, however, sounds like parents everywhere when he says that he doesn’t want his 2-year-old son, Waylon, to play tackle football before high school. He hopes that Waylon doesn’t play the game at all.

Jelani Cobb, the New Yorker writer and educator, said he would not be watching on Sunday, but his reason had nothing to do with the game’s violence and potential for life-threatening injury. He is not watching because he believes Colin Kaepernick, the former San Francisco 49ers quarterback, was blackballed by the N.F.L. for protesting for social justice when he chose to take a knee for the national anthem before games.

Many Americans say they have been turned off by on-field protests during games (61 percent, according to the Burson-Marsteller survey), but most say they plan to watch the game even if there are protests. Huh?