Chiefs-Patriots loses a day to COVID-19, but let’s be realistic about what’s happening
The virus is in, we all know that, the Chiefs’ game against the New England Patriots pushed back to Monday night. But even saying it like that — “the virus is in” — is a little misleading because it implies the virus was ever out.
It was not.
Saying it like that — “the virus is in” — implies that even the best-intentioned, motivated and resourced humans can keep the virus out.
They cannot.
The specifics of why the Chiefs and Patriots did not play Sunday are noteworthy only for the name-dropping. Cam Newton, the former MVP who has the Patriots’ offense running as or more efficiently than Tom Brady in recent years, is in self-quarantine after a confirmed positive COVID-19 test.
And Jordan Ta’amu, who casual Chiefs fans probably don’t know but who shares the quarterbacks’ room with a man they certainly know, also tested positive.
Deep breath.
The tendency is to have a strong reaction here. A big take. Panic a little. Why are they playing, even on Monday? There is still so much we don’t know about how this virus spreads. The incubation period is such that players or coaches could be infected but still not show on a test. Shut it down!
Again: deep breath.
We are four weeks into an NFL season that (hopefully!) will last 17, then five more for the playoffs. Test results have been encouraging until now. The Titans organization had an outbreak and is being investigated for possible breach of protocols. The Chiefs-Patriots game is the third game to be moved.
This is reality, and it’s not unexpected. The truth is a preseason and the league’s first few weeks of overwhelmingly clean COVID test results were outliers. If the NFL was going to shut down after one team’s outbreak then it never should have started in the first place. The reality of this virus — particularly if teams aren’t going to bubble up — is that positive test results were inevitable.
The challenge now is management. Meeting or failing that challenge will determine the league’s ultimate success or failure in navigating a season through a pandemic that has changed virtually everything.
The NFL has more money and motivation to get through this than virtually any other business. The league is, in some ways, well-positioned — games are naturally spaced out because teams typically play only once per week. The travel risks are overblown, with private flights and one-night stays on what are essentially private hotel floors.
The analogy isn’t perfect, but the NFL is vaguely where Major League Baseball was in August when the Miami Marlins and then the St. Louis Cardinals had to shut down because of outbreaks. If we care about these things, the Marlins reportedly broke protocols, and the virus was unknowingly brought into the Cardinals’ clubhouse.
By the end of the season, nearly every MLB team had positive cases and dozens of games had to be rescheduled. The Cardinals qualified for the playoffs despite requiring 10 doubleheaders and playing 58 of 60 originally scheduled games. But they finished. The playoffs are moving along. In 2020, that’s a resounding success.
This is the standard for the NFL. The standard is not perfection. The standard is good enough.
The NBA and NHL proved that bubbles work. There are downsides to bubbles, particularly in terms of mental health — weeks or months is a long time to be sequestered in order to play games. But they are the most effective forcefield against the virus.
The NFL could have done that. Each team could have created a bubble — blocks of hotel rooms, bus rides to and from the practice facility, no contact with the general public, etc. That would have been the safest, surest way to play an uninterrupted season.
Instead, the league chose additional risk. And just to be clear: This column is not criticism of that decision. It’s easy for a fan or a sports columnist to point out the safety and certainty of bubbles. It’s much more difficult to ask players and coaches to be away from their families for five months of training camp and a regular season.
So, the case against the bubble has merit. But let’s just be honest about what that means.
It means that we’ll have more moments like this. It means that the price of personal freedom to see friends and family is a heightened standard for self-discipline. It also means accepting that even that may prove insufficient.
We will see more games moved, probably. The NFL could turn into the MAC, with games on Tuesdays or Fridays. Maybe the playoffs get pushed back a week or two. Maybe the regular season ends up being 15 games, or 14. Maybe the luckiest and most disciplined teams play 16, while the others play fewer.
This is the NFL in 2020.
It is uncertain, and it is not as safe as it could be. It is also stubborn, and it’s determined to move forward. It is doing the best it can, considering the circumstances.
The league is, in other words, exactly like a lot of us.
This story was originally published October 5, 2020 at 5:00 AM.