COVID-19 and the NFL: Game Postponements and Rescheduling, MNF Doubleheader, Player Frustrations, More

In today’s set of Bullets, we discussed Baker Mayfield’s tweet storm directed at the NFL and its COVID protocols. And in doing so, we underscored how there was reporting on how the NFLPA was pushing to postpone the Browns’ game against the Raiders because of the increase in COVID-related issues.

Fast forward a few hours and the schedule looks different than it did this morning:

 

Cool, cool, cool.

In the face of increasing pressure to consider alternatives, discussions between the NFL and NFLPA to postpone *MULTIPLE* Week 15 games have been fruitful. The emergence of new cases impacting in the Raiders-Browns, Rams-Seahawks, and WFT-Eagles games is pushing the NFL to handle things with additional care. And in this case, it means pushing games back to allow more testing time — as well as an opportunity to get things under control. All in all, that is probably the smart thing to do right now.

This leaves us with the following:

•   One game on Saturday between the Colts and Patriots.

•   A normal-ish slate of Sunday games

•   Two Monday games, with Raiders-Browns leading into Bears-Vikings.

•   A pair of Tuesday night games, featuring Rams-Seahawks and Football Team-Eagles games.

This is what an updated schedule looks like:

We’re about to enter a stretch of days loaded with football:

The good news for football fans is that the NFL is scheduled to be on often in the coming days. But the challenges are not to be ignored:

This is all so tiring. Players frustrations are growing as we head into the final stretch of the year. And the NFL and NFLPA have some hashing out to do in order to make each other happy, while also balancing doing what is best for the players and product. It’s all such a mess right now.

But, hey, at least the Bears have one bit of good news on the COVID front:

Offensive tackle Elijah Wilkinson had been on the COVID reserve list since Nov. 26. It was his third trip into COVID protocols this football season. And with the Bears having COVID-19 and other illness issues along the offensive line, getting back one healthy body seems helpful.

Let’s wrap this up by keeping this in mind, as it figures to pop up between now and the end of the regular season:

written by

Luis C. Medina, who you can find on Twitter at lcm1986, has been covering the Chicago Bears at Bleacher Nation since 2017. Since then, he has written about 3 head coaches, 5 play-callers, and 11 starting quarterbacks. Previously, Luis wrote about the Cubs and MLB at BN (2015-16) and worked in the Chicago Tribune sports department (2011-16). He also co-hosted a Cubs postgame show, Outside the Ivy, in 2019.

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