The million-dollar headline and 10-cent QB struggled in difficult conditions. Not only is the team around him poor, his skills have eroded. In addition, the Bills had been playing well and are home in an atmosphere in Buffalo that can be unpleasant.

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This is a Rust Belt town that has suffered Super Bowl losses and improbable playoff defeats.

Heck, when Bills fans celebrate victories, they throw each other through flaming tables.

So to see Bills fans tackle a Kaepernick doll during tailgate festivities isn’t shocking. In fact, before you think this is some act rooted in bigotry or racism, know that the “Bills Mafia” does this at every tailgate for other quarterbacks and players, regardless if he stands for the national anthem.

To see and hear Bills fans chant “USA” as Kaepernick entered the field isn’t surprising, either. Nor is there anything wrong with it. The fact that this is even newsworthy in stories is a sad commentary on where we are as a nation. When Bills fans yell at Kaepernick as he enters the field that his mom doesn’t approve of his actions, that’s also true. In late August, she said as much.

Selling shirts with Kaepernick on a “Wanted” sign with his face in the sight of a gun? Yeah, that’s going too far and I don’t condone it.

All these factors toiled into a media story about media reporting and journalistic integrity.

Oh, boy. Get your vomit-bag ready.

Robert Klemko of SI’s MMQB posted video on Twitter of a Bills fan tackling the Kaepernick doll.

It turns out, no Bills fan can be heard screaming “tackle the Muslim” in the video. However, Klemko’s tweet leads you to believe otherwise. The quote in the tweet is sensational and is used to attract clicks and retweets. Klemko soon defended himself and said the quote was yelled before the video and that his job is to report what was said, regardless if it was recorded. That’s true, but he misled the Twitter public. It’s also possible Klemko made it up. For what it’s worth, Klemko got a vote of confidence from MMQB head honcho Peter King.

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The woman in the video who “obliges” is Alexis Dent, an African-American.

She took to the website Medium.com to write her account of the story. She says she never heard anyone scream the phrase, writing:

Dent continued:

And this is where the problem hits. Whether someone “screamed” the phrase that Klemko claims (I doubt it) doesn’t change the fact people tackled the Kaepernick doll. But this happens at every Bills tailgate, not just for games against Kaepernick and the 49ers. To use the video and tweet to push the Kaepernick protest and race story is wrong. To post the video and fail to mention the “Bills Mafia” does this at every tailgate for other players is wrong. And misleading. Quite frankly, I’m sick of the off-field Kaepernick story. I’m sick of having to call out media members who seem hell-bent on pushing the agenda. The message and movement loses effectiveness when progressive media pushes an incomplete or distorted portrayal.

If you only followed Robert Klemko and no one else involved in this “story,” you would have a picture that Bills fans are redneck bigots who tackled a Kap doll out of hatred rather than the more accurate one: This happens at every home-game tailgate, regardless of opponent. This is the dangerous, slippery slope of the Twitter league of social justice. It fans the flames of hatred and tension and does no one any good.

Hopefully we can all acknowledge this and learn from it.

Pat Imig is a featured host of “We Are Live!” on 590 The Fan in St. Louis. He needs to take a shower after writing this story. Tweet him @patrickimig or Email him: [email protected]