Report: New positives for Chiefs and Bears, none for Pats or Titans

[October 12, 2020]  The New England Patriots and Tennessee Titans had no positive COVID-19 results from Friday's testing, but the news wasn't all good, according to ESPN.

The Chiefs and Bears each reported one new positive test. In Kansas City, it belonged to a strength and conditioning coach, and in Chicago, a practice squad player tested positive. Contact tracing has begun.

Last week, Chiefs practice squad quarterback Jordan Ta'amu tested positive.

How this news will affect the Chiefs is unclear. They are scheduled to host the Las Vegas Raiders on Sunday.

The Bears played Thursday and defeated the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 20-19.

The rest of Week 5 appears to be moving forward, albeit with an adjusted schedule.

The NFL has moved the Titans against the Buffalo Bills to Tuesday at 7 p.m. ET (CBS), provided there are no new positive tests in the Tennessee organization. The Titans have had two dozen positive tests for the virus, counting players and staff, and they returned to their practice facility on Saturday for the first time since it closed on Sept. 29.

The Bills, who were to play Kansas City on Thursday to start Week 6, instead are scheduled to face the Chiefs next Sunday, Oct. 18, to keep the schedule largely intact.

New England, which flew in and out of Kansas City last Monday, hosts the Denver Broncos on Monday. That game had been scheduled for a 4:25 p.m. ET kickoff Sunday before Patriots cornerback Stephon Gilmore tested positive for COVID-19 on Tuesday. Quarterback Cam Newton tested positive last week.

That game has been moved to Monday at 5 p.m. ET (ESPN), provided the Patriots don't turn up any new positive tests.

After three days of virtual workouts, the Patriots reopened their practice facility on Saturday. Coach Bill Belichick said neither Newton nor Gilmore would practice, and he declined to name a starting quarterback for the game against the Broncos.

"I'm not getting into a bunch of hypotheticals. We're taking it day by day, hour by hour," Belichick said.

--Field Level Media

[© 2020 Thomson Reuters. All rights reserved.]

Copyright 2020 Reuters. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.  Thompson Reuters is solely responsible for this content.