Written by: Joseph Yun
Twitter: 2Yoon2ZeroBlitz
The doomsday COVID19 scenario that the NFL has long feared is in play with the Tennessee Titans having a team-wide outbreak.
Per Tom Pelissero and others, the Titans had eight team personnel test positive for the coronavirus. The Vikings will shut down their facilities as a result.
Keep in mind that outside linebackers coach Shane Bowen reportedly tested positive before the team left for Minnesota and thus wasn’t able to coach in the game.
As for those that are hoping that these are false positives, Ben Volin quickly shut that down
How does this affect the team going forward?
Well, the NFL has decided to shut down the Titans facilities until Saturday, according to ESPN’s Diana Russini.
If the Titans play the Steelers as scheduled on Sunday (highly unlikely at this point), they would be extremely up against it with everything being virtual and depending on which players tested positive. The Titans more than likely resume play the following week against the Bills if things don’t deteriorate any further.
Yahoo’s Charles Robinson breaks down how the catastrophic events could have occurred
How does this affect the upcoming schedule?
The Vikings shut down their facilities in conjunction with the Titans as a precaution, even though none in their organization tested positive as of press time per NFL protocol via NFL Network’s Ian Rapaport
The Vikings are currently scheduled to play the Houston Texans on Sunday.
The good news is that the NFL baked in schedule flexibility in preparation for this. They could, in theory, move Steelers vs. Jaguars to this week, give the Titans a bye this week, move the Titans vs. Jaguars to week 7, and effectively move Steelers vs. Titans to the originally planned Steelers vs. Jaguars date.
Teams and local governments will have to revisit the policy of having fans or anyone in the stands due to the outbreak within the Titans in my estimation. Let’s hope that everyone affected by this gets healthy as soon as possible. Please wear your masks, people.