Poll: How long do you think the 2020 NFL season will last?

I'm not asking how far you think the Patriots will go, but about the league as a whole.

Note: I set it so the results are anonymous.

Do not see the season happening, 6 Pats opt out, MLB is fighting to keep its season going, just a matter of time...

80 guys + staff cannot socially distance or wear face masks during TC.... even less so during the season.

i see the entire season playing out ... minus the preseason games of course ... too much money to be lost by too many people if it isnt played...

think herr roger really cares about the health and well being of the players? nope... all he cares about is putting benjis and grants in the pockets of the owners so he can cash those ridiculously oversized checks he gets every week

Yup, not happening.

ROTFL. Full season. MLB just found only .02 are positive. Meaningless low number for a harmless virus to 20 somethings.

NFL is gonna be fun.

Depth and coaching, while always important, will be crucial this season.

Which team will be first to be accused of rigging the COVID tests?

Does anyone, by anyone I mean those who aren’t hiding under their bed during this, able to live off their pension, social security or great granddad’s trust fund, really believe the NFL will or should just tell the networks to keep their $295 million per team in TV money for the 2020 season?

As long as we get a couple positives normally distributed through the teams each week I think they will push through the whole season.

Now if one or two teams screw up and they suddenly have a cluster of 30+ players to the point that 2-3 games have to be cancelled (or forfeited) then who knows.

I voted 1-9 weeks, with a strong trend toward 2-4 weeks. I think the NFL will try, regardless of the numbers or health concerns because there is too much money at stake. It'll become apparent somewhat quickly that it's not going to work. Sadly, I suspect it'll take a death or two for it to stop the season.

Until August

If the league had a shred of decency they’d cancel the season before it started. But I’ll give them 1-2 weeks.

Kenneth Sims said:

Does anyone, by anyone I mean those who aren’t hiding under their bed during this, able to live off their pension, social security or great granddad’s trust fund, really believe the NFL will or should just tell the networks to keep their $295 million per team in TV money for the 2020 season?

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you mean all the idiots out there spitting into each other’s mouths?

IllegalContact said:

you mean all the idiots out there spitting into each other’s mouths?

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No, I mean everyone out there that has to go out to work in this but is taking every precaution they can not to catch or spread the virus. I’m in my late 50s and diabetic. When this all started, a growth in my lung was being tested for cancer. Thank God the biopsy was negative, but the biopsy showed the growth to be inflammation tissue, so it’s logical to believe the other nodules present in both of my lungs are inflamed tissue as well. In short, it would probably not go well for me if I caught a bad dose of the virus.

But, I have to venture out to work like millions of others who are of an age or health condition that makes it a dangerous proposition. I don’t begrudge any player that opted out. I don’t begrudge people who can afford to bunker down and have supplies delivered to their front door.

But, I’m not one of them nor is it an option for most of us. I’m sure it’s not an option for many players, coaches or staff employed by NFL teams. This is not a matter of greed as too many believe but of survival.

This nation has been so affluent for so long that there is a class of people who are so far removed from the nitty gritty of life that they don’t even know it exists. Congratulations to them, but for the rest of us money doesn’t magically show up in our bank accounts and food doesn’t just appear on our tables. Work is not life, but it is a livelihood.

It should be no season at all. But since the owners are inhumane greedheads, they will force the season to happen, players be damned. But Nature and the virus hold all the cards and will force the season to end by week 9 and probably sooner.

As for those excusing the idiots in the NFL front office for not having a plan ("oh, how could they make a plan months ago not knowing what was coming?"), give me an effing break.

The NFL is awash in money. You hire a bunch of actual experts, have them develop 3, 5, or even 10 scenarios, and then you develop plans for each of those scenarios. As the situation evolves you abandon some plans, tweak others, and develop new ones. This is not rocket science.

The fact that this wasn't done is inexcusable and in a sane world would, on its own, be a compelling reason to fire Goodell and clear out the NFL front office.

I don't see a full season playing out, but its not impossible. After all: U.S. Navy aircraft carrier back at sea nearly 2 months after it was sidelined for coronavirus
5k people on a ship can make it happen....

Nikolai said:

Sadly, I suspect it'll take a death or two for it to stop the season.

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Sadly I agree with this, and let me add that while a 2% lethality rate seems mild, using back of the envelope math, and considering that each team is 80 players plus dozens of support staff, coaches, etc. that 2% death rate suggests 1-2 deaths PER TEAM would be the statistical average outcome.

There's mitigating factors of course, but not as many of them as people seem to think. These athletes push their bodies VERY hard over the course of the season and they train for peak performance, not peak health. At the very highest level of any given sport the two concepts can diverge wildly.

Bottom line, the risk factors are not necessarily minimized by their training, and at certain positions they're not minimized at all. I'm not sure how one could honestly sit there and claim that a 320 pound offensive lineman is not at elevated risk from this thing, just as one example.

stephens44 said:

I don't see a full season playing out, but its not impossible. After all: U.S. Navy aircraft carrier back at sea nearly 2 months after it was sidelined for coronavirus
5k people on a ship can make it happen....

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The military is a whole different animal and people go into naval service knowing they might come home in a box. Death is an accepted possible outcome of military service. It is not an accepted possible outcome of playing a football game.

Assume 2% lethality # is real. for conversation sake. That 2% is decidedly NOT uniformly distributed. It is greatly skewed towards the 70+ year old end. Greatly. This is one good thing about this virus. Lethality risk for younger age groups many times less. Also, treatment knowhow has increased.

And NOW we know why old coot Dante retired! Prescient.