The Pittsburgh Steelers–Tennessee Titans game will not be played during Week 4 following two additional positive coronavirus tests among the Titans, the NFL announced Thursday.
According to a statement from the NFL, one additional Titans players and one personnel member tested positive for COVID-19 on Thursday. That comes after four players (starting nose tackle DaQuan Jones, linebacker Kamalei Correa, long-snapper Beau Brinkley and practice squad tight end Tommy Hudson) and five team personnel members tested positive earlier this week.
“The decision to postpone the game was made to ensure the health and safety of players, coaches and game day personnel,” the NFL said in its statement. “The Titans facility will remain closed and the team will continue to have no in-person activities until further notice.”
The announcement comes a day after the NFL said the game, which had originally been scheduled for Sunday, had been postponed to Monday or Tuesday.
Titans coach Mike Vrabel said Wednesday that some of the players who tested positive were experiencing flu-like symptoms.
“I know there’s going to be a lot of questions about the game and about who’s to blame and where it started. Nobody’s to blame. We’re in a pandemic,” Vrabel said. “… This is a very unfortunate situation, but one that we’re confident that we will be able to handle safely with the football team and the players’ best interests in mind.”
The Minnesota Vikings, who played the Titans on Sunday, had no positive results in their latest round of coronavirus testing Wednesday, and their facility was scheduled to be reopened Thursday.
Now the NFL has to figure out how to reschedule a game between two of its seven undefeated teams after the league’s first COVID-19 outbreak.
The simplest scenario for rescheduling is Week 7 on Oct. 25. That’s the Titans’ bye week. Pittsburgh is scheduled to play at Baltimore that week, but both the Steelers and Ravens have byes in Week 8, which would allow the NFL to make a change affecting only one other team.
The challenge is turning this week into a bye for both Tennessee and Pittsburgh and comes after both teams started preparing to play as early as Monday. The Titans, who played in the AFC Championship Game in January, and the Steelers, revived with quarterback Ben Roethlisberger back, might be playing without a break through the rest of the regular season.
Having a Week 4 bye is not necessarily a disadvantage, nor is it anything new. Since 2012, the NFL has planned a Week 4 bye in every season except 2017 and 2020. Last season, the San Francisco 49ers reached the Super Bowl after having a Week 4 bye.
Pittsburgh hosts the Philadelphia Eagles on Oct. 11. The Buffalo Bills are scheduled to visit Tennessee that day, the next game that could be affected depending on how the Titans’ outbreak continues.
ESPN Stats & Information and The Associated Press contributed to this report.