Kansas City advanced to the Divisional Round after hosting Miami in sub-zero temperatures last week – see where it ranks on the all-time coldest games in NFL history.
Baring any wild happenings in the Wild Card round‘s Monday night double-billing, the defining picture of the weekend goes to Kansas City’s Andy Reid, who was seen sporting a frozen moustache adorned with icicles.
Despite significant pre-game chatter over concerns for player welfare, as well as those in attendance at Arrowhead Stadium, the Chiefs and the Dolphins lined up for their opening playoff game, in what turned out to be one of the coldest games in NFL history.
Nobody:
Andy Reid tonight: pic.twitter.com/RoLRO0Kmft
— jokesofnfl (@dripgurley) January 14, 2024
Miami, being the road team, will have gone from temperatures of around 77-degrees °F in Florida at this time of year, to minus-20 in Missouri. Getting past the Chiefs on their own turf was always likely to be a tall order, whatever the weather.
Top 10 Coldest Games in NFL History
10. Buffalo Bills vs Las Vegas Raiders
- Date: January 15th, 1994
- Temperature: 0-degrees °F
- Wind Chill: Minus-14 °F
This AFC Divisional round clash was the second game in the 1993-94 season that the Raiders had to endure frozen temperatures – more on that later.
To this day, the photos of a snow-capped field and wrapped up players remain iconic for Buffalo fans, with it being the coldest Bills game in history.
9. Cincinnati Bengals vs Pittsburgh Steelers
- Date: December 10th, 1977
- Temperature: 0-degrees °F
- Wind Chill: Minus-17 °F
Cincinnati, being as cold as it is in the winter, means this will not be the only time the Bengals feature on this list.
Just over 23,500 ticket-holders opted to stay at home and watch the game on the television from the comfort of their much warmer abode. This is made all the more astonishing when you take into account the game had been sold out for weeks prior, with all of the nearly-60,000 tickets distributed.
Did you know….. @KenAndersonNFL quarterbacked the two coldest games in #bengals history? We all know the Freezer Bowl, but did you know about this 1977 Bengals 17 to 10 win in a wind chill at minus-17 vs #steelers #CincinnatiFootballHistory #whodey pic.twitter.com/Gscj7ktMkA
— Bengal Jim’s BTR (@bengaljims_BTR) April 29, 2020
8. Green Bay Packers vs Las Vegas Raiders
- Date: December 26th, 1993
- Temperature: 0-degrees °F
- Wind Chill: Minus-20 °F
Remember Las Vegas’ unfortunate frozen double-billing, well here’s the next part.
This Boxing Day 1993 meeting clearly had an effect on the Raiders, who reportedly travelled from temperatures of 58-degrees in Nevada.
They were quite literally ‘frozen’ out after failing to muster a single score, losing 0-28.
As for the coldest Packers games of all-time, this is some way off taking the crown given Lambeau Field is notoriously unforgiving in the winter months.
In fact, 12 games with a temperature of 10-degrees or lower across its history means the Packers sit level with the Bears, although Green Bay have experienced sub-zero conditions on multiple occasions.
7. Green Bay Packers vs New York Giants
- Date: January 20th, 2008
- Temperature: Minus-1 °F
- Wind Chill: Minus-23 °F
As we enter the top six, January 2008’s showdown in Wisconsin between the Packers and Giants is the first game below zero on this list.
In what turned out to be a sour curtain call at Lambaeu Field for Brett Favre, the Giants progressed in this NFC Championship decider to qualify for the Super Bowl, where they eventually outmuscled the Patriots.
6. Minnesota Vikings vs Chicago Bears
- Date: December 3rd, 1972
- Temperature: Minus-2 °F
- Wind Chill: Minus-15 °F
It was only a matter of time before one of the coldest places in the country appeared on this list.
Chicago are certainly no strangers to adverse weather conditions, with the top two coldest Bears games clocking in at just three and 2-degrees, meaning they just miss out on this list.
However, the minus-2 they experienced at the Metropolitan Stadium on December 3rd 1972 was among the harshest conditions seen in the NFL.
Vikings vs. Bears, 1972: minus-2 degrees (wind chill: minus-15) pic.twitter.com/y1fuDNqnsN
— Jerome Weingarden (@Thelovetoy) January 14, 2024
5. Minnesota Vikings vs Green Bay Packers
- Date: December 10th, 1972
- Temperature: Minus-2 °F
- Wind Chill: Minus-19 °F
Yep, that’s right. Just a week separates numbers six and five of the coldest games in NFL history – both of which came in Minnesota.
Incredibly, this bitter Central Division decider in December 1972 – which saw the Packers end the Minnesota’s four-year reign – only ranks third in terms of the coldest games in Vikings history.
4. Kansas City Chiefs vs Miami Dolphins
- Date: January 13th, 2024
- Temperature: Minus-4 °F
- Wind Chill: Minus-18 °F
Clocking in at number four, we have last week’s Wild Card matchup at Arrowhead Stadium. It really was wild in every sense of the word, with frozen moustaches, steaming heads and scarcely recognisable fans clad in winter gear providing some memorable photos.
This new record beats the previous holder for the coldest games in Chiefs history – against the Broncos in 1983 – which would have ranked 10th on this list.
The Chiefs – who are still among the favorites to retain their Super Bowl crown across US sportsbooks – progressed with a solid 26-7 victory.
3. Minnesota Vikings vs Seattle Seahawks
- Date: January 10th, 2016
- Temperature: Minus-6 °F
- Wind Chill: Minus-25 °F
Bucking the trend of cold-dwellers being more suited to lower temperatures so far on this list, this game saw the Seahawks edge the hosts by a single point in this 2016 Wild Card match-up.
It ranks as the coldest Vikings game in NFL history, and the third overall.
2. Cincinnati Benglas vs San Diego Chargers
- Date: January 10th, 1982
- Temperature: Minus-9 °F
- Wind Chill: Minus-32 °F
With highs of 70-degrees back home near the Mexican border, the San Diego Chargers must have struggled to catch their breath as they stepped off the plane.
Just a week prior they had played in Miami with conditions of 88-degrees, but little could prepare them for the shock to the system as they managed just one score from 301 yards, despite being the best offense in the league at the time.
In what would later become known as the ‘Freezer Bowl,’ Cincinnati advanced to the Super Bowl where they fell to San Francisco.
1. Green Bay Packers vs Dallas Cowboys
- Date: December 31st, 1967
- Temperature: Minus-15 °F
- Wind Chill: Minus-48 °F
Widely considered to be one of the greatest games in NFL history – third on the NFL 100 as it happens – the 1967 ‘Ice Bowl’ Championship game is the stuff of legend.
One of my favorite sports aerials – the “Ice Bowl” game between the Cowboys and Packers at Lambeau Field on Dec 31, 1967
-15 and unimaginable wind chills#NFLPlayoffs pic.twitter.com/jM5DLsVSAj
— Old-Time Baseball Photos (@OTBaseballPhoto) January 14, 2024
To this day, it remains the only NFL game to be played in double-figure sub-zero temperatures, and the bitterly cold minus-48 wind chill was unforgiving.
Here’s a few of the best anecdotes from that day:
- A marching band due to play couldn’t perform; woodwind instruments froze, mouthpieces got stuck to the players’ lips and seven members of the band were transported to hospital with hypothermia.
- Linebacker Dave Robinson flagged down a random car for a ride after his own wouldn’t start.
- Referee Norm Schachter blew his whistle to start the game, and it froze to his lips. Instead of a scab forming when he freed it from his mouth, the blood froze to his lip.
- CBS commentator Frank Gifford famously said, “I’m going to take a bite of my coffee.” It had frozen over during the course of the game.
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