Things aren't exactly smooth sailing at 345 Park Ave. in New York City this week as the NFL is dealing with a few teams with multiple COVID-19 cases and having to make decisions on whether or not games will be played.
To this point in the year, the Titans-Steelers game last week was moved to later in the year because bye weeks just happened to work out and only a Ravens-Steelers needed to be moved to accommodate everything. Then the Patriots-Chiefs game last week was pushed back just one day following two positive tests over the weekend, which now seems like a poor decision given additional positive COVID tests for the Patriots.
The Patriots-Chiefs game should have been rescheduled for later in the year when Cam Newton tested positive Friday night/Saturday morning, but the league seems so set on fitting all the games into the current scheduling timeframe, which is a major issue. It is contributing to games being played when they probably shouldn’t.
One way to help solve this is to add a Week 18 at the end of the regular season.
If games need to be moved because of COVID cases, the league can first look to bye weeks to see if some basic reshuffling can be done, but if that doesn’t work then just move the game to Week 18.
This would take away the pressure of trying to fit all the games into the 17-week season and give the league some wiggle room.
There is an obvious flaw as this could create a scenario where teams already in the playoffs get an extra week off and then the potential is there for teams who have a bye to get two straight weeks off. But, that is only for two teams this year (one in each conference) because of the new playoff format and three wild card teams.
It becomes a moot point if one of those teams has to play a Week 18 game and then there’s always the possibility some/none of the games in Week 18 have playoff implications and at that point the league can just move right into the postseason.
Of course it’s not a perfect solution, but going ahead with the NFL season there was an understanding that it was not going to be a typical season. There were going to be some things that don't go according to play and some of those could create a competitive advantage/disadvantage.
That is just the way it is.
And as for the Super Bowl, if the league doesn’t want to mess with that date of Feb. 7, just get rid of the bye week between the conference title games and the Super Bowl. One would assume teams would be fresher than usual with some not playing in Week 18 and some have disliked the bye week prior to the Super Bowl for years.
One of the biggest issues the NFL is having at the moment relating to COVID is overdoing it when it comes to trying to play the games as close to scheduled as possible. In the case of the Patriots-Chiefs this past week, it was irresponsible and it’s hard to imagine another situation like this will not arise in the coming weeks.
Adding a Week 18 will help alleviate some of the stress of trying to fit a game into the current schedule and help with keeping the players as safe as possible.
While it isn’t ideal by any means, nothing in 2020 is.
