The 2020 NFL season will begin one month from today when the Chiefs and Texans kick things off, at least in theory. The pandemic has thrown everything into question this year and the league beginning the season on time is far from a guarantee, to say nothing of finishing it.
College football may be close to totally canceling their season, throwing even more doubt over the NFL’s year to come.
On the bright side, the league is taking testing seriously. The Panthers are one of six teams that have yet to have a positive COVID-19 test, according to Peter King’s latest column, which commends the Texans for having 11 straight days of no positives.
“With Houston’s Harris County being one of the country’s COVID-19 hotspot, that is one heck of an accomplishment. Kudos, too, to the Chargers, Cardinals, Panthers, Patriots and Seahawks for not having a player test positive yet, as of Saturday.”
Of course the flip-side is that 26 teams have had positive tests. While there hasn’t been a significant outbreak like those affecting MLB teams as of yet, the games and travel haven’t started, so it’s far too early to tell if the NFL’s plan is going to work.
If the league’s decision-makers are not preparing a backup plan to finish the 2020 season in a bubble in case things go south then they are setting themselves up for a potential disaster.
