No matter which side of the argument you're on, no other champion and history has been afforded the long list of excuses that Punk gets.
I don't think it's that the board is delusional...it's that for 15 years, the IWC has been the driving force behind the "champion is responsible for ratings" argument. Now that the numbers are tanking under the watch of their wet dream of a champion, they want to analyze the overall product, trends, booking, midcard, etc. "Who cares about the ratings, enjoy the show." That never happened for anybody else with the belt. Ever.
Just have to make sure that when (if) the ratings rebound, credit goes to Vince, the writing team and midcard for making it happen.