Injury to Vikings QB J.J. McCarthy highlights major inconsistency in the NFL they have no desire to truly fix

Last season, 29 players were fined for performing a hip drop tackle, with four of those being in the postseason. Bryan Cook of the Kansas City Chiefs didn't get called for a penalty on this play, but he did get fined $8,443 for the tackle.

In fact, there was only one hip drop tackle penalty called last season, and that player with the Carolina Panthers was Jacoby Windman, who was called for the penalty against the Arizona Cardinals, but was not fined for the infraction.

That's a problem for the NFL. They have this play that they want eradicated for the game, but the only thing they have in place is a penalty that officials don't call and a minuscule fine that doesn't impact the majority of defenders in the league.

Overall, this rule change isn't doing a lot to keep players safe. Running back Jordan Mason was brought down by Chicago Bears linebacker Noah Sewell in the third quarter. Luckily, Mason was okay but again, Sewell wasn't fined for the tackle.

If the officials aren't going to keep these players safe, what incentive is there for players to make this a focus? Relatively small fines compared to their salaries aren't doing it, so maybe the NFL needs to make this play reviewable. The sky judge can call it live on the field, and it could be a real deterrent to players.

None of this is going to fix McCarthy's ankle, but it could end up preventing the next one from happening, which is the goal of the league to begin with,

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