Consider what happened on Friday night at the start of one NFC team’s 15-minute interview with Tyler Eifert, the former Notre Dame tight end who is considered a possible first-round selection.

To kick things off, the team’s head coach asked Eifert, “Do you have a girlfriend?”

“Yes,” Eifert responded.

“Is she real?” the coach shot back.

Eifert – and everyone else – burst into laughter.

This is what football has come to for Te’o, a man whose tale of a deceased girlfriend once generated sympathy – and who now must navigate his way through a controversy that won’t die.