Will conditions be safe enough?
Multiple members of the Titans have tested positive for COVID-19, but the NFL still hopes Tennessee will get in their Week 4 contest against the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday.
As of Tuesday, five staff members and three players have returned positive coronavirus tests. The Titans and the Minnesota Vikings now have closed their facilities, though those who tested positive remain asymptomatic, per ESPN’s Adam Schefter.
“This is not unexpected,” NFL commissioner Roger Goodell on Tuesday wrote to the chief executives and presidents for every team in a memo obtained by ESPN. “There will be players and staff who will test positive during the season.”
Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin weighed in on the issue Tuesday.
“No, we’re going to trust the medical experts,” Tomlin told reporters Tuesday during a video press conference, via The Wall Street Journal’s Aditi Kinkhabwala. “We’re going to go down (with) the intention of playing and playing to win.”
The NFL said it’s making the move out of “an abundance of caution.” For now, however, Sunday’s Titans-Steelers game still is on for 1 p.m. ET.