J.C. Tretter

While the Chicago Bears got a 19-14 victory over the Kansas City Chiefs in Saturday's preseason opener for both clubs, much of the attention was on the playing surface at Soldier Field.

JC Tretter, NFL Players Association president, posted an image of the grass and called for "new testing metrics" after the league approved the surface for play:

Bears quarterback Justin Fields told reporters after the game that the grass at least was better than it was earlier in the week.

"It's kind of always been like that. ... I'm just glad it was better than earlier this week because that wasn't the best. ... To be honest, last year I used our home field as an advantage because I knew how our grass was," he said.

It wasn't a surprise that the field was in poor condition Saturday. Cairo Santos, who is entering his third straight season as Chicago's kicker, addressed the situation Tuesday.

"Especially Week 1, our first game of the season—I've seen better," Santos told reporters. "It's just what we have to deal with. The less of a problem you make it in your mind, it helps you overcome it and just go."

Santos also said he has had to find poorly maintained parks near his home in Florida to mimic the experience of kicking at Soldier Field.

"The ball flies different," he said. "It's not super even all the time. ... It's important to put yourself in that situation."

The Bears are trying to get a new stadium built in Arlington Heights, Illinois. The team signed a purchase agreement for Arlington International Racecourse last year.

Bears president Ted Phillips said in January that completing the sale could last "maybe into the first quarter of 2023."

Last month, the city of Chicago proposed options to renovate Soldier Field, including rebuilding the end zones with columns to support a dome structure or modifying the stadium to become a multipurpose venue to host soccer matches, concerts and other events.

Soldier Field is the oldest active stadium in the NFL, having opened in 1924. The Bears didn't begin playing there until 1971.

Cleveland Browns center JC Tretter announced Thursday he has tested positive for COVID-19.

The veteran lineman said he had felt "mild cold-like symptoms this morning," which led him to seek out a COVID-19 test.

With Thursday's news, Tretter will likely be absent for Saturday's game against the Green Bay Packers. He has yet to miss a single game since signing with Cleveland in 2017.

The Browns will have to forge ahead in Week 16 without a number of key players.

Earlier this week, the NFL and NFL Players Association reached an agreement to amend the COVID-19 health and safety protocols in the wake of a surge in new positive cases. The new rules ease the frequency at which vaccinated players are required to be tested.

The players can be voluntarily tested as much as they want, but they're only compelled when showing COVID-like symptoms.

Tretter, president of the NFLPA, argued in September in favor of daily testing to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 when the Delta variant was causing a spike at the time.

"The NFLPA saw this coming months ago and has been advocating for a return to daily testing because it is more effective way to stop and prevent the spread of the coronavirus in our locker rooms," he said.

With Omicron variant creating the same problem—on a greater scale—the NFLPA renewed that call:

In another change to the health and safety protocols, the league and players' union agreed to accelerate the timeline by which vaccinated players can return to the field. Even if they continue to test positive, a player can be activated if his viral load is below the threshold at which he's deemed to be contagious.

Despite those changes, the timing of Tretter's positive test almost certainly means Nick Harris will be the Browns' starting center Saturday.

If the NFL had its way, the three Week 15 games impacted by COVID-19 wouldn't have been played. 

Speaking to reporters on Wednesday, Cleveland Browns center JC Tretter said the NFLPA executive committee voted to have the games rescheduled after the NFL wanted to cancel them:

The NFL announced Friday that three games—Las Vegas Raiders vs. Browns, Washington Football Team vs. Philadelphia Eagles, Seattle Seahawks vs. Los Angeles Rams—had been rescheduled. 

The Browns, Rams and Football Team each had several players and coaches added to the NFL's reserve/COVID-19 list over the course of last week.   

Several players for the Raiders, Football Team and Seahawks expressed their unhappiness that the games were rescheduled. 

Raiders cornerback Casey Hayward even suggested Tretter, who is president of the NFL Players Association, used his influence to get the games moved:

Before the regular season began, the NFL told teams in a memo that games wouldn't be postponed or rescheduled because of COVID-19 absences involving unvaccinated players. 

Rams head coach Sean McVay said all of the players on his team who were put on the reserve/COVID-19 list have been vaccinated. 

On Monday, NFL Network's Tom Pelissero noted 213 players have tested positive for COVID-19 since the start of last week, with "roughly" two-thirds of that group being asymptomatic. 

There has been no indication at this point that any games scheduled for Week 16 are at risk of being rescheduled.