The regularly scheduled Week 4 matchup between the Steelers and Titans won’t be played in Week 4 at all.
One day after the NFL moved the game to Monday Night Football for health and safety purposes after eight members of the Titans organization tested positive for COVID-19, the outbreak has grown to the point where the league is taking the game off this week’s schedule.
A statement from the NFL:
— NFL (@NFL) October 1, 2020
ESPN’s Adam Schefter tweets the latest round of testing in Tennessee has brought the organizational number to 11, which includes five players and six other staffers. With that in mind, the league is shutting down Titans facilities for the time being. It’s a wise move as the league battles its first significant team-wide outbreak.
In addition to the obvious challenges Tennessee faces in getting its players healthy and re-configuring its protocol in order to prevent this from happening again, the NFL will have to figure out when the two teams can play again. Pro Football Talk’s Josh Alper suggests the league could accommodate a Titans-Steelers game in Week 7 after some schedule tweaks. Because for that to happen, the Steelers and Ravens – currently scheduled to play each other in Week 7 – would need to move their bye weeks from Week 9 to play in Week 8. Thus, clearing the slot for the Titans and Steelers. It’s complicated, I know. But these are the things leagues that don’t play in Bubbles have to prepare for in times like these.
Ultimately, no Titans games will be played until deemed healthy enough to do so. Starting now, health and safety should take priority over football as far as Tennessee’s team is concerned.