Coldest NFL playoff video games: Dolphins vs Chiefs would possibly be part of checklist – USA TODAY

By the point the Miami Dolphins and Kansas City Chiefs kick off their AFC wild-card playoff game on Saturday night time, temperatures at Arrowhead Stadium could be in the single digits with a wind chill under zero, per AccuWeather.
That forecast would possibly make Dolphins-Chiefs one of many coldest video games in NFL historical past. Whereas Chiefs gamers could be considerably accustomed to dwelling in these chilly situations, it might be an actual shock to the system for the Dolphins, who would possibly expertise a 70-degree dip from the weather in South Florida.
With so many groups primarily based within the Midwest and Northeast, freezing temperatures should not unusual for NFL playoff video games. So, it ought to come as no shock that locations akin to Buffalo, Cleveland and Inexperienced Bay, Wisconsin, function prominently on this checklist of the coldest NFL playoff games ever.
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The famous Ice Bowl, one of the vital iconic video games in NFL historical past, continues to personal this spot regardless of NFL playoff video games going down deeper and deeper into the winter resulting from expanded common season and postseason schedules. This sport came about on Dec. 31, 1967 (Glad New Yr, Inexperienced Bay … brr! Per the National Weather Service, this present day started a stretch of seven of 9 days through which temperatures didn’t exceed 0 levels in Inexperienced Bay). Bart Starr’s quarterback sneak within the remaining seconds won the game for the Packers, who accomplished a quest to win three consecutive NFL championships. No different workforce has completed this feat.
Nicknamed the Freezer Bowl, this was a bitter follow-up for the Chargers, who every week earlier performed in the Epic in Miami within the South Florida warmth. It hurts simply to look at the highlights of this game (possibly it is the freezing cold-artificial turf combo), which catapulted the Bengals to their first Tremendous Bowl look. The Bengals’ head coach was Forrest Gregg, who performed for the Packers within the Ice Bowl.
That is the Rams’ final house sport in Cleveland earlier than relocating to Los Angeles, and it was the coldest NFL championship sport till the Ice Bowl occurred 22 years later. There’s a famous photo of gamers sitting on the sidelines making an attempt to remain heat with their legs buried in hay. A primary quarter security when Hall of Fame quarterback Sammy Baugh hit the aim put up with a go (aim posts had been on the aim line through the 1973 season) turned out to be the margin of victory on this chilly Cleveland day.
The Seahawks scored all of their points within the fourth quarter, and obtained a present late when Vikings kicker Blair Walsh missed a 27-yard field-goal try with 22 seconds remaining. This sport was performed at TCF Financial institution Stadium, the house of the Minnesota Golden Gophers soccer workforce and non permanent Vikings house till U.S. Financial institution Stadium opened for the 2016 season.
This epic cold-weather clash finally altered NFL historical past. After successful this dramatic sport, the Giants went on to upset the 18-0 New England Patriots in Super Bowl 43 to stop the primary undefeated season for the reason that 1972 Miami Dolphins. Giants head coach Tom Coughlin’s frostbitten face additionally stays one of many enduring recollections from this sport.
By this time, a lot of America was sick of seeing the Payments within the Tremendous Bowl. That did not matter to the Payments, who defeated the Raiders on this chilly Western New York day after which beat the Kansas City Chiefs in the AFC championship game en path to a fourth consecutive Tremendous Bowl look.
The famous Red Right 88 game set forth a string of playoff misfortunes suffered by the Browns through the Nineteen Eighties. The play name resulted in Browns quarterback Brian Sipe throwing an interception ultimately zone, an ill-advised gamble when Cleveland might have received the sport with a subject aim. The Raiders went on to grow to be the primary wild-card workforce to win a Tremendous Bowl.
“Ice Bowl II” – because it was dubbed on the time – wasn’t almost as chilly as the unique, nevertheless it did propel the Packers to their first Tremendous Bowl look for the reason that 1967 season, which featured the well-known sport. The Panthers, in simply their second season of existence, had been no match for the Packers, who went on to win Super Bowl 31.
This brutally chilly sport – there’s one thing about frigid video games performed on synthetic turf that make it appear even colder – helped Washington attain the Tremendous Bowl, and despatched the then-NFL’s all-time main rusher Walter Payton into retirement. Washington defeated the Minnesota Vikings in the NFC title game earlier than winning Super Bowl 22 in opposition to the Denver Broncos.
This was Bears proprietor/head coach George Halas’ sixth and remaining NFL title as coach, and the final championship sport look for a Giants workforce that had appeared in six such video games in eight seasons. It could be 22 seasons earlier than the Bears would win one other title and 23 seasons for the Giants.
A late-game subject aim by Adam Vinatieri on a freezing day in Foxborough made winners of the Patriots (sound acquainted?). Every week later, the Patriots defeated the Indianapolis Colts on a balmy, 32-degree day in Foxborough within the AFC title sport en path to Super Bowl 38, the place they defeated the Carolina Panthers for his or her second Lombardi Trophy in three seasons.
Temperature knowledge from Pro Football Reference.
Observe Jim Reineking on social media @jimreineking

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