NFL Should Make Plans For Playoff Bubble ASAP

You can envision the scene now, can’t you?

The wind is howling. You can see every breath each player makes because of the condensation The crowd is waving towels as the temperatures grow colder and colder in Kansas City, Seattle, Baltimore, Green Bay, Foxborough or whichever cold weather city is hosting a massive January playoff game. Throw some snow or rain in there and you have yourself what could be a great memorable experience.

But with the coronavirus pandemic expected to worsen as winter approaches, NFL teams, players and coaches need to mitigate and lessen their risk as much as possible. You’re seeing Major League Baseball shift to neutral, warm-weather bubble sites for its Division, League Championship and World Series and pro football needs to do the same for its postseason.

The NFL has already started to see what a coronavirus outbreak for one team can do to its schedule. As of Friday afternoon, 13 Tennessee Titans players had tested positive for COVID-19 at some point over the last week, causing some changes. Tennessee’s scheduled game for Pittsburgh was postponed until Oct. 25, with Pittsburgh’s Oct. 25 game against archrival Baltimore moved to Nov. 1. Further potential team outbreaks down the line could make things even more treacherous for the league logistically.

As the season wears on, cold and flu season kicks into gear and the 32 teams already take their bye week, teams may not have an open date on their schedules to complete the season as smoothly as this postponed Tennessee-Pittsburgh contest. Would the playoffs have to be pushed back a week? Two? Could that prevent the Super Bowl from happening on its intended date?

This may seem like an overreaction for only one team outbreak, but the St. Louis Cardinals lost weeks due to its team outbreak during the summer, when the weather is better. Tennessee still has to see its positive test rate go down to zero as it gets ready for its next scheduled game on Oct. 11 against Buffalo.

The NFL needs to take every precaution necessary to keep its season on track, which includes strongly encouraging its players to get flu shots.

To take things further all players, not just coaches, on the sidelines should be wearing masks to prevent further COVID outbreaks from occurring and should be fined heavily for not complying. That should apply for any sport played outside in the cold. As we’ve seen…elsewhere in the news, even if you’re tested daily and given the best protection and medical care in the entire United States, you can still test positive for coronavirus if you’re not taking the necessary precautions constantly.

As much as people love to see those epic NFL playoff duels played in the wind, rain and snow in cold weather cities every January, I think we can live with games being played in Los Angeles, Dallas, Houston, New Orleans, Tampa, Miami, Jacksonville or wherever the league decided to host games in as safe and controlled an environment as possible.

It may be the only way fans will get to see another scene, the music blaring and the confetti falling as a team celebrates (socially distant, of course) with the Lombardi Trophy in February.