As first responders continue to fight dangerous wildfires in Los Angeles County, the NFL still has not reached a decision about whether Monday's first-round playoff matchup between the Minnesota Vikings and Los Angeles Rams will still take place inside SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles or not.
On Thursday, ESPN's Kevin Seifert shared some comments from Vikings defensive lineman and team captain Harrison Phillips about the possibility of Monday's contest being moved outside of Los Angeles.
"I just want to be really conscious of the image that that can portray. There are people that I know, a lot of players in the NFL retire or have homes in California or have ties to California, that whole area, and you just want to be really want to be cautious of what's really going on outside of this.
I think the Lakers canceled their game, and [their arena] is an actual indoor facility where [SoFi] Stadium isn't. Some people think it's a dome. It's not.
When a hurricane hits a certain location, or if a tornado came through and devastated a community, you want to be very cautious of the optics. And again, I strictly say this from a human standpoint, not as a Minnesota Viking who wants a better competitive advantage. That's not where it's coming from."
More signs point to the NFL moving the playoff game between the Minnesota Vikings and Los Angeles Rams
Shortly after Seifert shared Phillips's comments, multiple reporters covering the Rams shared images and videos online of large clouds of smoke from a nearby fire that were visible from the team's practice facility.
According to the Associated Press's Greg Beacham, the Rams canceled their player media availability after Thursday's practice so that members of the team and staff would have more time to get home safely to their families.
On Wednesday, the NFL released a statement saying that if the location of Monday's playoff game needs to be changed, the contest will take place inside State Farm Stadium in Glendale, Arizona, where the Arizona Cardinals play their home games each season.
If the league is going to move the location of Monday's matchup, a decision will likely need to be made sooner rather than later in order to give each team enough time to properly prepare for the change.