Max Kellerman Was Positive The NFL Couldn't Have A Season Without A Bubble

PublishedJanuary 3, 2021 2:45 PM EST|UpdatedJanuary 3, 2021 2:45 PM EST

On July 27, ESPN's deep thinker Max Kellerman had the NFL's chance of finishing the 2020 season at "ZERO" percent chance unless the league used a bubble to play games. As I type, it's January 3 and the NFL is about to finish its regular season with fans in the stands from Cleveland to Tampa and points in between.

Max said it couldn't be done. He was convinced it would be a disaster for Roger and the shield.

“Get serious, right now, come up with a couple different bubbles or serious plans or I’m telling you right now, ZERO percent chance they will finish their season,” Kellerman said in the middle of the summer.

"College football's in a dream world," Kellerman said as the dog days of summer were kicking in.

A week before Kellerman's declaration that the NFL wouldn't finish a season without using a bubble system, he was on record saying he didn't think there would be a season at all. "If they start their season, I see virtually no way they're going to finish it," Kellerman said July 21.

The ESPN big thinker had these takes less than 30 days after a University of Illinois computer science professor told CBS Sports: “I guarantee someone is going to die” from playing college football. That professor predicted there would be 3-7 deaths among 13,000 FBS players.

“A few of them could end up in the hospital, and you’ll have a small number who could die,” the professor told Dennis Dodd. “I don’t want to sugar coat it for you. I just want to give you the facts. … If everybody comes together under normal circumstances, we’ll probably see that kind of outcome.”

Eventually, the professor recalculated his numbers and came up with a new death number. This time he predicted 0.59 to 1.68 deaths at the FBS level.

The FBS will crown a champion January 11 while the NFL is on track to complete a full season Sunday night with the Washington Football Team at Philadelphia. There have been zero deaths in the FBS and the NFL is working on plans to have fans at the Super Bowl.