Cleveland Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski, two additional members of the coaching staff, and two players have tested positive for COVID-19 and will not be available for the AFC wild-card game against the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday night.

The news of Stefanski testing positive has moved the line, with the Steelers jumping a full two-and-a-half points to now sit as a six-point favourite.

Along with their head coach, Pro Bowl left guard Joel Bitonio and wide receiver KhaDarel Hodge also tested positive and so have two staff members — tight ends coach Drew Petzing and defensive backs coach Jeff Howard.

Browns’ special teams coordinator Mike Priefer now will serve as Cleveland’s acting head coach.

Pittsburgh was one of the top teams in the league this year at covering. Their 10-6 record against the spread was tied for third, trailing just the Buffalo Bills and Miami Dolphins.

Despite making the playoffs for the first time since 2002 and finishing 11-5, the Browns were tied with the Philadelphia Eagles, New York Jets, Minnesota Vikings and Houston Texans with the second-worst record against the number, going 6-10, with only the Dallas Cowboys (5-11) worse.

With the spread on the rise, so is the Steelers’ win probably.

As of Tuesday morning, the Steelers moneyline sat at -240 - an implied win probability of 70.6 per cent. That number is now -270 in some spots (73 per cent).

The Steelers went 7-1 straight up this season as favourite of six or more points, but covered in just four of those games.

Their lone loss as a big favourite this season came on in Week 15 as a 14.5-point favourite over the Cincinnati Bengals.

The Browns were an underdog just five times this season, going 2-3 straight up and against the number.

Along with the line and moneyline , the total has gone up a half-point from 47 to 47.5.

NFL rules state that anyone testing positive must sit out at least 10 days.

League spokesman Brian McCarthy said there is no change to the status of Sunday night's game at Heinz Field in Pittsburgh. He added the league is continuing to conduct standard contact tracing to identify any possible high-risk close contacts.

“If any players or personnel are identified as such, they would remain apart from the team and facilities for five days from the last exposure to a positive individual,” McCarthy said in an email to The Associated Press. “They would be eligible to return to the team and play in the game.”

-- With files from The Canadian Press