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NFL chief medical officer: 'Absolutely possible' players could miss Super Bowl due to COVID-19

LOS ANGELES – It’s still a threat. The NFL avoided a major disruption to the postseason after the omicron variant emerged in December, but with the biggest game of the season looming with Super Bowl 56, it’s hardly time to declare a final victory over COVID-19.

Not here. Not now.

Allen Sills, the NFL’s chief medical officer, told reporters this week that he thinks it’s “absolutely possible” that players from the Los Angeles Rams and Cincinnati Bengals could contract COVID-19 and miss the Super Bowl.

“If they have symptoms and we test them and they test positive,” Sills said, “then obviously they would miss the game.”

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The Los Angeles Rams and the Cincinnati Bengals will play in Super Bowl 56 at SoFi Stadium on Feb. 13.
The Los Angeles Rams and the Cincinnati Bengals will play in Super Bowl 56 at SoFi Stadium on Feb. 13.

The conference championship games, like earlier rounds of the playoffs, went on without a hitch as the NFL has continued with a revised testing approach that it implemented in mid-December and tweaked again in January with the spread of the omicron variant, electing to test players who have shown symptoms of COVID-19 or self-reported issues rather than utilize a regular, widespread system.

Sills said he was encouraged by the proactive measures by players and staff that he believes have done much to prevent the type of widespread outbreaks that wreaked havoc during various stages of the 2020 season that was completed before a vaccination became widely available.

“Let’s understand that there’s a culture of recognition within the team,” Sills said. “If there’s a player within the team environment or coach or staff member displaying obvious symptoms, no one wants that individual to spread that around the team. Particularly this week.”

Although roughly 95% of players league-wide are vaccinated for COVID-19, Sills estimated that only 10% of players received booster shots. The potential of experiencing reactionary side effects from the booster shots was likely viewed by players as a huge detriment, he said.

While vaccinations were a hot-button issue as training camps opened in July, the booster shots never became a point of contention. During the course of the pandemic, the NFL and NFL Players Association have implemented nine versions of COVID-19 protocols, including the current guidelines that eliminated spot testing for asymptomatic individuals.

“The rollout of boosters came at a challenging time for players,” Sills said. “We all know that during the season players don’t want to do anything that might detract from their performance or cause them to miss time.”

Sills concludes that the high vaccination rate of players was the biggest key, coupled with a high rate of booster shots for staff, that allowed the NFL to continue its season amid the biggest COVID-19 threat with the omicron variant.

During the first five months of the season, beginning with the start of training camp, NFL teams collectively averaged 28 positive tests per week, which amounts to less than one per team.

Then came omicron, a “tidal wave,” Sills called it, when it emerged in mid-December.

“It came in and washed over everyone,” Sills said.

During Week 16 of the regular season (Dec. 19-25), there were 347 positive cases, leaguewide, according to NFL figures. The next week, there were 411 positive results – which turned out to be the peak. For the final week of the regular season, there were 216 positive tests. The first week of the playoffs produced 37 tests with the fewer (14) teams.

Sills said the decline in positive cases since Week 18 and the avoidance of major outbreaks proved that the revised protocols (which include a 5-day return if there was a negative test result and no symptoms) are a success.

Still, there’s one week, one game left before this season is completely in the books.

Follow USA TODAY Sports' Jarrett Bell on Twitter @JarrettBell.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Could players miss Super Bowl due to COVID? 'Absolutely possible'