On "Thursday Night Football," the Tennessee Titans take on the San Francisco 49ers, as both teams are vying for a postseason place. For real-time updates, keep an eye on this page.
- When: The game starts at 8:20 p.m. Eastern.
- Nissan Stadium in Nashville is the location.
- How to watch: NFL Network; Amazon Prime Video and FuboTV are two streaming alternatives.
What to Look Out For During the 49ers vs. Titans Matchup
The Tennessee Titans take on the San Francisco 49ers in "Thursday Night Football" in Nashville, where both teams are vying for a postseason spot in the NFL.
With a 9-5 record, the Titans are the No. 3 seed in the AFC and lead the AFC South by one game over the Indianapolis Colts. They can win the division if they beat the 49ers and the Colts lose at Arizona on Saturday night. They also have playoff-clinching situations if they win on Thursday night and other teams lose over the weekend.
The Titans have lost three of their last four games, including a 19-13 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday. For this game, they reinstated wide receiver A.J. Brown from the injured reserve list, who hasn't played since Week 11 due to a chest ailment. Brown might be reunited with wide receiver Julio Jones, who is expected to play despite a hamstring ailment.
Titans activate WR A.J. Brown + DB Chris Jackson from Injured Reserve
— Tennessee Titans (@Titans) December 23, 2021
Roster Moves 📰 » https://t.co/19k1zKiLlN
They might aid quarterback Ryan Tannehill in bolstering a struggling passing game, which would be a horrible offensive combination as the Titans try to get by without injured tailback Derrick Henry. In total defense, they are rated 10th in the league, four positions behind the 49ers.
The 49ers enter the game on a roll, having won two straight games and five of their past six. In the tough NFC West, they trail the Arizona Cardinals and Los Angeles Rams, but they begin Week 16 as the NFC's No. 6 seed.
The 49ers' winning ways have kept rookie quarterback Trey Lance on the bench, waiting his time, while Jimmy Garoppolo thrives as the starter. With 18 touchdown passes, eight interceptions, and a passer rating of 100.7, Garoppolo is the NFL's sixth-best quarterback. He's averaging 8.5 yards per pass attempt, which is the best in the league.
Garoppolo will target tight end George Kittle frequently since he has 425 receiving yards in the last three games. Deebo Samuel, a wide receiver, has shown he can sprint and grab the ball. He's scored running touchdowns in five consecutive games.
At this time, the NFL intends to play all of the weekend's games as scheduled.
As of Thursday, the NFL intends to play all of this weekend's games as scheduled.
Three Week 15 games in the league were postponed last weekend and rescheduled on Monday and Tuesday. But, for the time being, the NFL wants to avoid delaying any of this weekend's games, according to a source close to the league's preparations who said Thursday, "Everything is on track."
The postponements for last weekend were announced on Friday. Given the continuous surge in coronavirus infections leaguewide, which NFL leaders have linked to the rising incidence of the highly transmissible omicron variety, all such judgments are susceptible to alter on a daily basis.
On Thursday, 46 players were placed on their clubs' reserve/covid-19 lists, all after testing positive for the virus. Dalvin Cook of the Minnesota Vikings and Taysom Hill and Trevor Siemian of the New Orleans Saints were among them. In the previous two weeks, more than 300 NFL players have tested positive for the coronavirus.
After experiencing mild cold-like symptoms this morning, I chose to test at our facility and unfortunately, I am positive for COVID-19. I encourage all NFL players to take every precaution available to them to protect themselves, their families and their teammates from this virus
— JC Tretter (@JCTretter) December 23, 2021
Center for the Cleveland Browns After "experiencing minor cold-like symptoms this morning" and getting tested at the Browns' facility, JC Tretter, the president of the NFL Players Association, tweeted that he had tested positive.
Tretter added, "I encourage all NFL players to take every precaution feasible to protect themselves, their families, and their teammates from this infection."
Saints place nine players on Covid-19 list: pic.twitter.com/4DuORMSNaA
— New Orleans Saints (@Saints) December 23, 2021
Nine Saints players were placed on the team's reserve/covid-19 list, including Hill and Siemian. According to reports, the Baltimore Ravens' 53-man roster only had 13 defensive players available for Thursday's practice. Quarterback Joe Flacco and guard Laurent Duvernay-Tardif, who opted out of last season with the Kansas City Chiefs to help fight the epidemic in his home Canada after graduating from medical school, were among the Jets' reserve/covid-19 list players.
The Kansas City Chiefs and Houston Texans are two more clubs that have had major concerns this week.
Asymptomatic athletes and personnel have not propagated the illness within club facilities, according to the NFL.
Even under the modified protocols, the NFL's chief medical officer, Allen Sills, said Thursday that the league continues to conduct more than 1,000 coronavirus tests per day and that symptom-free players and staffers have not been found to be responsible for spreading the virus within teams' facilities.
"It turns out we're not running a whole lot less testing," Sills said on the NFL Network, which is owned by the league. "Every day, we're testing over 1,000 people because remember, we're testing all unvaccinated [players]." We're putting our high-risk tight relationships to the test. Anyone who wants to participate in a voluntary test is being tested. We're also putting a random sample of the population to the test."
Dr. Allen Sills, the NFL's chief medical officer, on why he thinks it is safe to do somewhat less testing while the virus surges nationally. pic.twitter.com/pJh51igA40
— Judy Battista (@judybattista) December 23, 2021
Last Sunday, the NFL and the NFL Players Association agreed to a new testing procedure that exempts immunized players and personnel from routine testing unless they show symptoms of covid-19.
When asked about the likelihood of the virus being disseminated within the team setting by asymptomatic people whose coronavirus case has gone unnoticed, Sills said the league has not discovered that asymptomatic individuals have been responsible for the spread of the virus within NFL facilities.
"I believe we return to our data, which is something we've been tracking all along," Sills said. "We haven't observed the situation that has been mentioned, in which asymptomatic persons in the facility transfer infection to others." When we looked back over the entire season, we saw that when people have symptoms, they appear to be communicable to others.
Dr. Sills says the NFL has not seen asymptomatic people spreading COVID throughout the facility. pic.twitter.com/DBEusaxSIg
— Judy Battista (@judybattista) December 23, 2021
"That's why we're urging folks to come out and disclose those symptoms because that's when they're most susceptible and exposed to others." And, once again, our data has supported this throughout the season. I believe this is especially true of this new variation, omicron, of what we're experiencing. So it's all about recognizing symptoms and getting tested as soon as possible."
Late last week, the NFL and NFLPA implemented a revised return-to-play rule that allows a vaccinated, asymptomatic player or employee who obtains a positive test to return to team activities in as little as one day.