Can the NFL Survive Against COVID-19?

The NFL season was off to a hot start with seemingly no issues. Sure, some coaches were fined for wearing their masks wrong. Andy Reid’s mask fogging up was good fun, too. Yet almost a quarter into the year, and the league already faces a huge challenge.

After their week 3 game with the Vikings, multiple Titans players and staff members tested positive for COVID-19, prompting both teams to shut down their practice facilities, according to the league and Players Association. Earlier today, the Vikings announced on their twitter account that all staff, coaches, and players tested negative and that they will reopen their facilities.

The Titans, however, had a different post. The team linked to a story on their official website that let everyone know that the NFL had announced the Steelers-Titans game would be rescheduled with no official date set yet. This came only a day after speculation that the game would be moved to Monday or Tuesday night to give the Titans time to practice.

Fantasy football players may be upset if they had stars like Derrick Henry or JuJu Smith-Schuster on their team, but this stings just as badly as a fan. I have supported the Steelers all my life, and because of that I still have this feeling that the Titans should field their healthy players. However, I have to put my bias aside and realize that the league has no plans to do this. Rather than get furious that the Steelers now have to (potentially) play 13 games in a row, I should understand that the people who actually play in these games are being hit the hardest. No matter how many games the Steelers play, I am here sitting on the couch. I am not the one getting hit or potentially catching a virus.

Steelers All-Pro defensive tackle Cameron Heyward tweeted at the NFL and Players Association asking if this would count as a bye week, to which the Players Association replied that they sent him a direct message. We are monitoring their twitter accounts, but as of writing this, no official statement has been made.

Heyward’s teammate, tight end Eric Ebron expressed his discontent with the situation, tweeting out that he was supposed to attend his son’s birthday party during the Steelers’ regularly scheduled week 8 bye week, and that he would miss it now.

If these situations keep arising and the league continues to make decisions seemingly on the fly, what’s next? Players are already expressing that this situation is both confusing and unhelpful. More players will speak out if and when their team is affected by this. Make no mistake, Steelers fans are also allowed to be upset. Whether or not the Titans were irresponsible when it came to proper safety guidelines, the Steelers are being punished here despite no mention of positive tests on their part. As football fans we should care about the league going on no matter what, but we can’t always put our personal biases aside.

The league does not seem to have a solution yet, despite months of planning. If they do have a solution, they’re only angering fans, players, coaches, and staff by not revealing it. The MLB, NBA, and NHL have made things work. Now, the highest grossing sports league in the world needs to make things work. They don’t have the benefit of a huge schedule or a less physical sport. Double headers, which are commonplace every season in the MLB, just can’t work in a sport like football where there is always contact. Players barely recover with the week in between games they are given.

We will continue to monitor these situations and bring you updates on how the league is handling things, and how your favorite team is being affected. Let’s hope it’s nothing but good news from this day forward.