NFL possibly in danger with Titan's COVID-19 Crisis
It’s not an overreaction to say the NFL could be in trouble with their latest COVID developments.
Sunday’s game between the Tennessee Titans and Pittsburg Steelers has been officially postponed to a later date. NFL circles got word Monday following their win against the Vikings, that several Titans players and personnel had tested positive for COVID, their total entering Friday now 13. No Viking players have tested positive and they have since returned to their practice facilities.
The NFL has been gun-ho about this season since the very beginning, even saying teams will have fans in stands. To their credit, The NFL has been very careful as far off-season training programs and even pressing the needle on personnel on the sidelines wearing masks. But as we have seen COVID can’t be contained, at least for long and now you have a situation like the Titans found themselves in. Because of the nature of the game and the league not implementing a bubble format a la the NBA and NHL, there is now a team in the NFL in danger of being shut down for a time being like the Miami Marlins in the MLB.
The first three weeks of the season including most of the training camps went without positive tests and the NFL looked as if would follow in the NBA’s footsteps in being able to complete their season. We as fans foolishly thought for a second COVID wasn’t a problem and the talks were all about the action we were seeing on the field. But now the NFL is in this situation leaving us as fans with more questions than answers like when will the makeup games be?
The NFL doesn’t have the pleasure like the MLB in being able to schedule back to backs and doubleheaders. The toll is simply too much for the players, even trying for a Tuesday game was a stretch due to the quick turnaround. So if you can’t do that when will the games be? And what happens if you have to reschedule more games due to more teams getting the virus, then what? The NFL schedule will possibly have to push back their schedule, something they have been against since the beginning. If those games aren’t played, which is a possibility due to the circumstances, playoff seeding will become an issue. Steelers sit 3-0 on top of a division where they’re competing with the Ravens. A game miss can result in either team winning that division, or potentially the playoffs down the stretch.
The NFL will likely stay the course now with the one game being postponed. Although, Titan’s game against the Bills is now in jeopardy as well:
Until multiple games are postponed for different teams we probably won’t see the NFL shutting down. But that scenario is not far off, especially with flu season approaching.
Stay tuned for more news on the Titans.
