The NFL—the league office, teams, players, coaches and everyone else in the pro football sphere—has been well-aware that it would almost certainly face unforeseen challenges as it tried to play through a pandemic.
This is a real one.
That the league is dealing with a cluster of positive tests can’t be considered shocking—in fact, it’s probably more surprising that the NFL made it this far without an issue like the one facing the Titans (and, by proxy, the Vikings and Steelers). And because this is something that could be planned for, the NFL has protocols ready to be rolled out in order to deal with it.