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 player and one personnel member tested positive for COVID-19 on Thursday. The Titans added cornerback Kristian Fulton to the reserve/COVID-19 list 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. Coach Mike Vrabel said Wednesday that some of the players who tested positive were experiencing flu-like symptoms.
"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 a 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.
Vrabel said Thursday that his players "were somewhat shocked" at the news they wouldn't be playing this week.
"They wanted to play; they were preparing to play. But I think that they understood and realized why the decision was made," he said. "I think that they'll handle this like they do everything else; they'll handle it with professionalism, with understanding and a compassion towards not only ourselves and those people that have been affected but also Pittsburgh, the Steelers -- they were preparing for a game and now will have their schedule changed as well."
Steelers coach Mike Tomlin acknowledged being "disappointed" that his team won't play this week.
"But we understand the nature of this environment we're in in 2020. And so we're just adjusting accordingly," Tomlin said. "But there's disappointment, no question; we've worked extremely hard at the beginning portion of this week in preparation for what we thought was an opportunity versus an undefeated team in their venue. And so you lean in on those opportunities. So we're not getting an opportunity to do that. Instead, we're getting a bye week; so we're gonna make the best of that."
The Minnesota Vikings, who played the Titans on Sunday, have had no positive results in coronavirus testing and their facility was 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.
Sources told Schefter that the most likely scenario for rescheduling will be to play the game in Week 7 on Oct. 25, the Titans' original 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.
This rescheduling plan is contingent on no positive tests among the Vikings, who played the Titans last week, the sources said.
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.
Steelers tight end Eric Ebron tweeted his displeasure over his team potentially losing its scheduled bye in Week 8, which will cause him to miss his son's birthday party.
"im confused on how this became our problem.. my sons birthday party was bye week now i'm missing his birthday & bad enough I don't even see my kids. s--- sucks," he tweeted.
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.
Asked for his reaction to the Steelers potentially having to play 13 consecutive weeks, Tomlin said, "We don't care."
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 develops.
ESPN Stats & Information and The Associated Press contributed to this report.