Should the NFL Bubble Up for the Playoffs?

The National Football League is approaching a major convergence. With the Playoffs, just over a week away, and the Covid-19/Omicron surge happening increasingly and ever presently — even considering false-negatives — it makes the likelihood of each playoff team needing to Bubble Up more of a possibility every day. Don’t think that can happen? Here’s a recent publication from the NFL about alternate locations for the upcoming Super Bowl:

Although this addresses specifically, the NFL’s usual policy of searching for an alternate location in the event of “unforeseen circumstances,” the underlying meaning is implied, especially this year with the increased health issues. Here’s what NFL spokesperson, Brian McCarty, said on Wednesday:

“We plan on playing Super Bowl 56 as scheduled at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles on Sunday, Feb. 13. As part of our standard contingency planning process that we conduct for all regular and postseason games, we have contacted several clubs to inquire about stadium availability in the event we cannot play the Super Bowl as scheduled due to weather-related issues or unforeseen circumstances.”

What’s important to note is that this article was published by ESPN and also said:

“AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, the home of the Dallas Cowboys, reportedly is one of the facilities that was contacted. The stadium hosted the Rose Bowl in 2021 when it was switched from Pasadena because of COVID-19 restrictions in California.”

If the NFL can potentially change the location of the Super Bowl, they can handle the idea of creating a Bubble for each pair of playoff teams in the coming weeks.

Is a Bubble Really Needed?

Here’s a look at the number of Covid cases in the NFL from August 2nd, 2021, through Wednesday of this week, from SharpFootballAnalysis.com:

Yes, I know, it’s in tiny letters and numbers too small to read, but at the bottom of this chart, on the right, it shows that around December 12, 2021, the number of cases in the NFL has taken a sharp spike upwards. While this also shows a decline in reported cases at the end of December, there’s no sign, nor reports, of the cases letting up, in fact, only getting worse.

December NFL Cases

On December 15, Judy Battista at NFL.com published a piece in which she reported:

“… with around 100 players testing positive in the last three days. That is a record number of cases this season. Many of those players are fully vaccinated. According to the league, two-thirds of them are asymptomatic and the rest have very mild symptoms. That has forced a sudden reexamination at the NFL’s Winter League Meeting of the protocols that have governed the league, with just four games to go in the regular season before the playoffs begin.”

Change in Covid Policy

Then, at the end of December, and as a result of the Owners and NFLPA Meetings, it was announced that:

“The NFL and NFL Players Association agreed to modify their joint COVID-19 protocols on Tuesday, cutting the standard isolation period after a positive test for asymptomatic individuals from 10 days to five days regardless of vaccination status….”

By the way, that was only ten days ago, on Tuesday of last week.

NBA As A Test Case

From Sporting News comes this summation about the NBA and the Bubble they put in place for their playoffs a year ago:

“There’s no telling how the situation inside the NBA bubble will evolve as it relates to COVID-19, but the league at least was able to bring the 22 teams it invited to Orlando into the bubble in a relatively safe manner.”

No one is thinking — that I know of — that there is one location where all teams in the NFL could go to create a similar Bubble as the NBA. However, there is the possibility of each team and it’s entire staff could Bubble Up in a hotel in the city it’s supposed to play in one week in advance. That way, the NFL and it’s medical staff could keep a much closer eye on the players about play a Wild Card Game then, the Conference Games and Conference Championships.

You can also consider team injuries and team wins in this scenario:

I do find it interesting that all teams nearer to the top of this chart are playoff teams in the NFL. Of course, the “bubble” they’re referring to here, is not the kind of bubble I’m suggesting. At least I’m not the only one who is thinking a Bubble is needed:

Do I think there should be an NFL Playoff Bubble for teams? Yes, sadly, but yes. One big bubble? No, but a number of hotels where the playoff players could be housed and isolated in each city, for a week.

As a fan, I hope to see those games with full and healthy rosters, than not, because I don’t want to see playoff games without their star players, just because of Covid.

What do you think?

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Laddie Morse — ArrowheadOne

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PS Chiefs playoff possibilities for the #3 or #4 seed [not talked about much]: if the Chiefs lose to the Broncos and either the Bengals, Bills or Pats win.

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