Tennessee Coach Mike Vrabel said he was not among the group of personnel who tested positive for COVID-19, and declined to identify any of those people. Vrabel said some of those who tested positive were experiencing “flu-like” symptoms. Mark Humphrey/Associated Press

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The Tennessee Titans find themselves back in a waiting mode, hoping the NFL allows them back inside their headquarters by Tuesday.

Their game against the Pittsburgh Steelers is now postponed until later in the season because of the league’s first COVID-19 outbreak.

The NFL postponed Sunday’s game in Nashville after one additional Titans player and one personnel member tested positive for COVID-19. The announcement Thursday morning came a day after the league said it hoped to play the game either Monday or Tuesday. The NFL said a new game date will be announced “shortly.”

Coach Mike Vrabel informed his Titans of the newest positive tests and the NFL’s decision to postpone the game at a team meeting Thursday morning. That puts Tennessee – and Pittsburgh – on a bye week several weeks ahead of schedule.

Vrabel said they hope to be allowed back inside their building Monday or Tuesday.

“I told them to try to mentally recover from an emotional few days, so that we can proceed with our season, build on a 3-0 start,” Vrabel said.

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When the Titans are allowed back inside their facility depends on the daily testing results. They had one positive test last Saturday – outside linebackers coach Shane Bowen, which prevented him from traveling with Tennessee to Minnesota for a 31-30 win. The Vikings returned to work at their facility Thursday.

The Titans are scheduled to host Buffalo (3-0) on Oct. 11 depending on the results of daily testing.

On Tuesday, the Titans (3-0) placed three players on the reserve/COVID-19 list, including defensive captain and lineman DaQuan Jones and long snapper Beau Brinkley. Outside linebacker Kamalei Correa became the fourth player on that list Wednesday.

With the two new cases, the Titans’ total is now 12: five players and seven other organization members. Vrabel said he’s very confident the Titans have followed the contact tracing protocol to identify anyone at risk from being close together.

“So we’ll see what happens tomorrow when we get those results back,” Vrabel said.

The NFL decided to postpone the game “to ensure the health and safety of players, coaches and game day personnel.” The league also said the Titans cannot have any in-person activities until further notice, with the facility remaining closed.

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The league also sent a memo Thursday detailing new steps for teams dealing with a COVID-19 outbreak or exposed to a team that has had an outbreak. Those include a POC test in addition to the daily PCR test, virtual meetings, and facemasks and gloves for everyone at practice until cleared to return to less stringent protocols.

Now the NFL has to figure out how to reschedule a game between two of its seven undefeated teams. The simplest scenario for rescheduling is Week 7 on Oct. 25, when the Titans have a scheduled bye. Pittsburgh is scheduled to play at Baltimore that week, but both the Steelers and Ravens have byes in Week 8, allowing the NFL to make a change affecting only one other team.

VIKINGS: Minnesota reopened its headquarters for team activities, following another morning of zero positive COVID-19 test results four days after playing the Tennessee Titans.

Minnesota plays at Houston on Sunday – a game between two of the NFL’s six 0-3 teams that remains on track for now. On Wednesday, instead of taking the field to install the game plan, players discussed it virtually with the coaches via video conference.

LIONS: Detroit activated safety Jayron Kearse after he served a three-game suspension for violating the NFL’s policy on substance abuse, and released running back Ty Johnson to clear a roster spot for Kearse.

FALCONS: With Younghoe Koo hobbled by a groin injury, Atlanta signed kicker Elliott Fry to the practice squad as insurance heading into Monday night’s game at Green Bay.

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EAGLES: Philadelphia was down to one healthy wide receiver at practice.

DeSean Jackson, J.J. Arcega-Whiteside and John Hightower were sidelined and Alshon Jeffery still is recovering from foot surgery last season. Rookies Jalen Reagor and Quez Watkins already are on injured reserve.

That left Greg Ward as the only wideout from the active roster on the field catching passes from Carson Wentz. Ward was joined by Deontay Burnett, Travis Fulgham and Marcus Green from the practice squad.

 

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