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October 12, 2020 By: Terry Frei

It’s time for the NFL to go to a limited bubble approach

The NFL has made it through the first five weeks of the season without calamitous encounters with COVID-19.

Allowing fans back in the seats, following local and state mandates and guidelines, is a work in gradual progress.

That’s the good news.

Unfortunately, scattered outbreaks among players and staffs have caused postponements and schedule juggling. Most notably, outbreaks among the Patriots and Titans organizations have led to changes affecting not just those teams, but nine others.

Just one example: The Broncos-Patriots game, originally sceduled for Sunday, first was bumped to the storied Monday Afternoon Football slot, then back six more days to Sunday, October 18. The October 18 Broncos-Dolphins game has been bumped back to November 22.

There’s a new revelation, a new development, every day.

The NFL is considering adding an 18th week to the regular season and pushing back the playoffs.

The juggling and ripple effect almost certainly will continue.

And that’s likely the best-case scenario.

So what to do?

The NFL should heed the leads of the NBA, NHL and MLB, establishing at least individual team bubbles for the foreseeable future — perhaps, or even probably, for the rest of the season.

That would be a moderate step compared to the strict quarantine conditions of the NHL and NBA.

The NHL conducted its 24-team postseason in Toronto and Edmonton. By the time the Dallas Stars watched the Tampa Bay Lightning raise the Stanley Cup, they had been in Vancouver for 10 weeks.

The Lightning at least got some variety in its quarantine and march to the Cup. Tampa Bay split its bubble time between Toronto, where the early rounds of the Eastern Conference playoffs were held, and Vancouver.

The NBA finished up its regular season and held its playoffs in Orlando. In fact, by the time the Lakers raised the Larry O’Brien Trophy Sunday night, they had been sequestered in Orlando for three months.

The NFL players at least could do their part, and strengthen the chances of getting the full season in, by going to bubble-like conditions.

From here on, each NFL team should operate under individual quarantine.

The team facility and a hotel are their worlds.

Their Orlando, Edmonton and Toronto.

Drastic? Of course it is.

After this weekend, there are 12 weeks remaining in the regular season, and that would be a long period of quarantine for 32 teams. The conference title games aren’t until January 24, the Super Bowl not until February 7.

There were some missteps, but in general, the other leagues managed to pull it off.

The NBA players did it.

The NHL players did it.

MLB’s players, now down to a Final Four in Arlington and San Diego bubbles, did it to a modified degree after an abbreviated regular season at mostly home sites — minus fans.

The World Series will be played at Globe Life Field in Arlington.

It’s a lot to expect NFL players and staffs to be isolated from their families from now until at least early January.

But it’s got to be done.

Shrugging off COVID-19’s effect on the NFL as some sort of minor annoyance, and as not life-threatening to healthy young athletes, is myopic.

There’s so much more to it.

Depending on the direction the pandemic takes, there would be alternatives to consider. The most extreme would be going to multiple-team bubbles and a redrawn schedule.

If the NFL tries to plug on, though, without tightening its protocol, the chances of making it through this season without a complete shutdown are slim.

About Terry: Terry Frei is the author of seven books. His novels are Olympic Affair and The Witch’s Season, and among his five non-fiction works are Horns, Hogs, and Nixon Coming; Third Down and a War to Go; and ’77: Denver, the Broncos, and a Coming of Age. Information is available on his web site, terryfrei.com His woodypaige.com archive can be found here.