The NFL is having their first real Covid-19 crisis. A crisis where you hope everyone involved makes it out healthy. A crisis that was very predictable, and one I'm sure the league knew was going to happen to some degree. Did they anticipate an entire team having to shut down and a star QB testing positive in the same week? Likely no, but with the way things are set up and players not being in a real bubble, this was bound to happen. It needs to be a wake-up call to the league that they need to think about how they can keep their teams isolated going forward.
Whether that means taking everyone and putting them in one location such as a team hotel going forward, it's clear they need to do something. They need to isolate teams and make sure there's no chance of players and staff interacting with anyone outside the organization as much as possible. This is on both the league and the players association to figure out. They need to get it done because the season depends on it. And no, I don't think they can do one big bubble like the NBA. That's just not feasible for the NFL and never was. The teams are too big and there wasn't a location that could satisfy the needs of a full NFL season. With that in mind, they need to do something to curb this recent trend of positive tests. Because if not, the season could be in jeopardy.
The MLB went through this very thing months ago with outbreaks within the Marlins and Cardinals and made it through because those instances served as wake-up calls to the league. The NFL is currently in the same boat, but unlike the MLB, they can't be as flexible with their schedule. There's no doubleheaders in the NFL. And while they were able to move the Titans and Steelers game due to future bye weeks, that gets trickier as the season moves on.
The NFL needs to understand that if they don't take extreme measures, this season could quickly go off the rails. Because as this moment, you have Cam Newton, one of the most popular players in the NFL, not available to play because of the virus. You have an entire team forced to quarantine because 16 members of the organization have tested positive. For all the goodwill the NFL built up for getting through training camp with very few positive tests, they're now going through a very real crisis that needs to be managed. This is on the NFL and NFLPA to figure out and address, because if they don't, they can kiss the season they worked so hard to make happen goodbye.
