NFL’s 2nd season of COVID just as trying as 1st, maybe more

The NFL worked around COVID-19 with pauses and postponements during a 2020 season that figured to be the worst in dealing with the virus.

Now the league — and its teams, coaches and players — are just working through coronavirus concerns in 2021, even with positive tests skyrocketing compared to late in the season a year ago.

Las Vegas and the Los Angeles Chargers are set for a playoffs-or-bust finale to the first 17-game regular season on Sunday. Masks and large meeting rooms — even virtual position-group gatherings — are as much a part of game plans as Xs and Os for those and other teams on the playoff bubble. Same for the teams already in.

“I’m worried about COVID just like the rest of the league is,” said Dallas coach Mike McCarthy, whose team clinched the NFC East in Week 16. “It’s just another variable in our league to be successful. The experience from last year is definitely beneficial. We’ll do the best we can with it.”

The Philadelphia Eagles are relieved they wrapped up a postseason berth over the weekend because 12 more players landed on the COVID-19 reserve list Monday, including defensive tackle Fletcher Cox and tight end Dallas Goedert.

The league and players’ union agreed to ease returnto-play guidelines as the focus shifted from isolating infected players to encouraging vaccine booster shots as the best way to deal with the highly contagious omicron variant.

There were nearly 600 confirmed positive COVID-19 cases among players and league personnel from Dec. 12 to 25 compared to about 100 from almost the same timeframe in 2020, according to NFL figures.

But the league has only postponed three games, all in Week 15 when two games were moved to Tuesday.