You know it, I know it, and the rest of the world knows it: Aaron Donald is not playing in the Los Angeles Rams’ season opener against the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday.

It’s obviously hugely disappointing news, but it’s the truth. It’s now Thursday and Donald is nowhere to be found. Heck, he’s not even on the same coast as the team. He’s across the country in Pittsburgh working out, presumably staying shape for his eventual return.

That’s all well and good, but there’s a difference between being in shape and being ready for an NFL game. Even if he were to hop on a plane right now, land in Los Angeles and practice with the team today, it’d be incredibly difficult for him to play Sunday. That’s just the reality.

So why won’t the Rams and Sean McVay acknowledge this and rule Donald out? That’s a good question.

After Wednesday’s practice, McVay was once again asked about Donald. It wasn’t the first question he faced, but his response was short, nonetheless.

“No,” McVay said when asked if there was an update on his All-Pro defender.

The next question: Has he ruled out Donald for Sunday?

His answer was the same, essentially, just a bit more in-depth.

“No, I wouldn’t rule him out. We’re still in the same place. I know I kind of sound monotonous where, ‘Hey we’re trying to find a solution’, which is exactly the truth. There’s no update right now. … I think it’s allowed us to develop some depth that maybe we didn’t realize we had, so if you want to put a positive light on that. And then again, I’ll continue to praise our players for … we know they love and respect Aaron – want him to be here, but they haven’t let it be a distraction going into what we know is an extremely important game for us.”

McVay lauds his players for not letting Donald’s holdout become a distraction, which is fair. However, at this point, it shouldn’t be. Everyone knows he has no intention of playing on Sunday, because if he did, he would have reported by Monday’s soft “deadline.”

It’s time for McVay to admit this harsh reality and let it be known that Donald won’t be on the field against the Colts.

I get that he’s a game-changer on defense and he can have a massive impact on just a handful of snaps, but McVay is almost letting this story linger more than it has to by refusing to rule out Donald for Sunday. It was understandable for him to keep his options open after he didn’t report Monday. Fine.

But after he skipped Wednesday’s full practice – the first of the regular season – it became clear that Donald would remain away from the team for at least this week. Now, it’s up to McVay to remove this distraction and rule out Donald for Week 1.

It’s in the best interest of the team, and it’ll send a message that they’re moving forward this week with the understanding that he won’t be on the field. Granted, there’s some gamesmanship in not tipping his hand to the Colts, but don’t be fooled: Chuck Pagano is well aware of the situation, and knows his team won’t have to face Donald on Sunday.

This situation is messy enough, and hasn’t gotten any better. The least McVay can do is put an end to the speculation heading into Week 1.