For months, the NFL and its players consistently downplayed the necessity of a postseason bubble, instead harping on the importance of players and teams following COVID-19 safety protocols to finish the season.
The approach has generally worked. On Sunday, the league wrapped up a 256-game regular season on time, aside from a few postponements and rescheduled contests caused by COVID outbreaks of varying degrees of severity. Yet, pulling off the playoffs, and playing the Super Bowl in early February, was always going to represent the hardest challenge for the NFL, especially with COVID cases rising across the country.