The weather forecast for Saturday’s Dolphins-Chiefs NFL wild card game in Kansas City: Not. Good.
As of Friday, the Accuweather forecast projects a daytime high Saturday of 6 degrees Fahrenheit, but because the game is scheduled to kick off shortly after 7 p.m. local time — well after sunset — temperatures likely will be lower by the time the game starts.
As if speaking to fans planning to attend the game, Accuweather's forecast reads, in part: "bitter cold; be sure to wear layers."
The forecast expects a low Saturday night of minus-10. With gusts of up to 45 mph forecast, the expected wind chill could make it feel as cold as minus-35 at Arrowhead, which would make it among the coldest playoff games in NFL history.
MORE: The 10 coldest NFL games ever played
What’s the coldest playoff game in NFL history?
By ambient temperature, the Cowboys-Packers NFL Championship on Dec. 31, 1967, in Green Bay, dubbed “the Ice Bowl,” is the coldest game in NFL history at minus-13 degrees Fahrenheit.
Based on wind chill, the Bengals-Chargers AFC Championship on Jan. 10, 1982, in Cincinnati, dubbed “the Freezer Bowl,” is the coldest at minus-59 degrees (minus-9 with winds gusting to 35 mph).
The wind chill for “the Ice Bowl” is generally acknowledged to have been around minus-48.
Here’s how The Sporting News covered the two games:
Packers-Cowboys 1967: How cold was ‘the Ice Bowl’?
The headline in The Sporting News over correspondent Chuck Johnson’s story from Green Bay read, “Packers Stay Hot at 13 Below Zero”.
Johnson — who referred “the frozen wastelands of Lambeau Field” on the coldest New Year’s Eve in Green Bay’s history — described the conditions:
“The usual capacity crowd of 50,861 was on hand, even though the temperature dipped to 16-below the morning of the game, was up to only 13-below at the kickoff and struggled up to 12-below by the time the game was finished two and one-half hours later. The fans paid $12 for the privilege of suffering with their heroes, and they probably all got their money’s worth, frostbite or no.”
Interestingly, little else was said about the weather in TSN’s coverage ahead of the first Super Bowl.
Bart Starr’s iconic quarterback sneak to win the game in the waning seconds is what many remember — in addition to the cold.
Bengals-Chargers 1982: How cold was ‘the Freezer Bowl’?
The headline in The Sporting News over correspondent Doug Grow’s story from Cincinnati read, ‘B-B-Bengals b-r-reak Chargers”.
The vital numbers, from Grow:
“Temperature: 9 degrees below zero.
“Wind: Gusting up to 35 miles an hour out of the northwest.
“Wind-chill factor: 59 degrees below zero.
“Brutally cold. Miserably cold.”
In fact, fully the top third of Grow’s story focused almost exclusively on the frigid conditions, with a little football — and one mischaracterization of the wind chill at that Cowboys-Packers game in 1967:
CINCINNATI — It will be the cold — the breath-stealing, frostbiting, awful cold —that will be remembered long after the score is forgotten in the American Football Conference championship game.
The numbers on the scoreboard — Cincinnati 27, San Diego 7 — were impressive, especially to fans of the Cincinnati Bengals. But those scoreboard numbers January 10 were not nearly so impressive as the following numbers:
Temperature: 9 degrees below zero.
Wind: Gusting up to 35 miles an hour out of the northwest.
Wind-chill factor: 59 degrees below zero.
Brutally cold. Miserably cold.
"The cold brought something extra out of me," said Cincinnati fullback Pete Johnson, who ripped through the Chargers' defense for 80 yards. "You wanted to get out there and score a touchdown in a hurry so you could get back to the bench and get warm."
The cold, a cold that nearly matched the National Football League's most infamous Ice Bowl, the 1967 championship game between the Dallas Cowboys and the Green Bay Packers, a game played when the wind-chill index showed minus-60.[ sic ]
"It was as cold a day as I've ever seen as a player or coach," said Bengals Coach Forrest Gregg, who played in the 1967 game at Green Bay as an offensive tackle for the Packers.
The cold.
"People just can't help but get frostbite in weather like this," said Col. Lawrence Whalen, assistant police chief in Cincinnati.
Whalen wasn't concerned with the players. He was concerned about the 46,342 fans who arrived at Riverfront Stadium (there were 13,277 no-shows) to watch their suddenly beloved Bengals defeat the Chargers and earn a berth against the San Francisco 49ers in Super Bowl XVI.
The city arranged for buses to be parked — with engines running — outside the stadium so fans would have someplace to go for a few moments of warmth. In addition, two first-aid rooms were set up in the basement of the stadium to handle frostbite cases.
Still, Whalen was concerned.
"They (fans) are so boozed up, they don't know they're freezing until it's too late."
The cold.
NFL Commissioner Pete Rozelle, recuperating from a virus ailment at his home in New York, briefly considered postponing the game but instead, the NFL consulted with an expert on environmental medicine from the U.S. Army Research Institute and declared. "The show must go on." And it did.
After the players had rubbed mountain-climbing lubricants on their feet and all exposed skin and after they had climbed into their thermal underwear and panty hose and pulled on their rubber scuba gloves and after heated benches were imported from Philadelphia and both teams had made sure they were well stocked with insulated boots and mittens, the show went on surprisingly well.
And when it was over, the Chargers had to admit they had been beaten by themselves and by the Bengals, not the elements.
The Frozen 5: The coldest playoff games in NFL history
Cowboys at Packers (NFL Championship), Dec. 31, 1967: Minus-13 degrees (windchill: minus-48)
Chargers at Bengals (AFC Championship), Jan. 10, 1982: Minus-9 (minus-59)
Seahawks at Vikings (NFC Wild Card), Jan. 10, 2016: Minus-6 degrees (minus-25)
Giants at Packers (NFC Championship), Jan. 20, 2008: Minus-4 (minus-24)
Raiders at Bills (AFC Divisional Round), Jan. 15 1994: Zero (minus-32)
