An (Ir)Regularly Scheduled Bye Week
The Scheduling Gods had given the Titans a gift this season. In a year where injuries to key players are piling up across the league already, Tennessee was given their bye week in the middle of the season– landing on Week 7 after a division battle against the Houston Texans the week prior.
Things are kind of different now. While nothing is set in stone quite yet, the rumor is that the Titans game against the Steelers will now be rescheduled to Week 7, while Week 4 will be left open for Tennessee has the team’s unofficial bye week.
Mike Vrabel, being the ‘Ultimate Football Guy’ that he is, insisted after news broke of the Titans’ COVID cases that the team would be eager and willing to play the Week 4 game as scheduled, despite the NFL’s Coronavirus policy keeping the team locked out of their facilities until Saturday.
And while Vrabel’s enthusiasm and toughness always has me ready to run through a brick wall at a moments notice, after a few days of the NFL batting around ideas like keeping the game scheduled for and making the Titans play with one day worth of live practice, moving the game back to Tuesday and giving the Titans a short week for both Week 4 AND Week 5, giving Tennessee their bye this week feels like the lesser of all evils.
The Week 4 bye does come with its own, glaring downside. But, maybe if you squint hard enough, you can find a silver lining in there too.