The Indianapolis Colts were informed of several positive COVID-19 tests on Friday morning and the team will be working remotely while they await confirmation of those tests.
As the practice facility closes with just two days before the Colts are to host the Cincinnati Bengals on Sunday, the game is reportedly still on as the league waits for more information.
However, if the Colts do have a COVID-19 issue on their hands and they have to reschedule Sunday’s game, it does appear there is somewhat of an easy alternative.
Still a long way to go before any decision is made, but if #Bengals Colts game can’t be played Sunday, it won’t take scheduling gymnastics to fix.
They could delay game one week to Oct 25, and move Oct. 25 Cin-Cle game to Nov 8, which is both teams’ bye week.— Jay Morrison (@JayMorrisonATH) October 16, 2020
Jay Morrison of The Athletic proposed a potential schedule change should the league be forced to reschedule Sunday’s matchup between the Colts and Bengals.
Essentially, the Colts and Bengals would take their byes in Week 6 rather than playing the game. Then this game gets moved to Week 7, which is the Colts’ original bye week. The Browns would then take their bye in Week 7 while their game against the Bengals would get pushed back to Week 9, which was originally the bye week for those two teams.
We are still very early in the process of this situation. As of this writing, the Colts are still waiting for confirmation of their several COVID-19 tests. This could all be a moot point if the Colts and Bengals are able to play in Week 6.
But if the league is forced to reschedule the game, it appears they have a relatively easy path without having to shake things up too much.