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Breaking down an electrical NFL divisional spherical weekend
Chris Bumbaca and Prince Grimes dive into the matchups and storylines of the NFL divisional playoff spherical.
When the Los Angeles Rams and Chicago Bears meet for an NFC divisional playoff sport at Soldier Field on Sunday, Jan. 18, the 2 squads may very well be greeted with single-digit temperatures.
Per AccuWeather, the projected low temperature in Chicago on Sunday is predicted to be effectively under freezing. Depending on how chilly it will get on the shores of Lake Michigan within the Windy City, the Rams-Bears game might be a part of the ranks of the coldest postseason video games in NFL historical past.
With so many groups based mostly 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 resembling Buffalo, Chicago, Cleveland and Green Bay characteristic prominently on this checklist of the coldest NFL playoff video games ever.
1. 1967 NFL championship sport
The famous Ice Bowl, probably the most 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 attributable to expanded common season and postseason schedules. This sport befell on Dec. 31, 1967 (Happy New Year, Green Bay … brr! Per the National Weather Service, today started a stretch of seven of 9 days by which temperatures didn’t exceed 0 levels in Green Bay). Bart Starr’s quarterback sneak within the last seconds won the game for the Packers, who accomplished a quest to win three consecutive NFL championships. No different staff has completed this feat.
2. 1981 AFC championship sport
Nicknamed the Freezer Bowl, this was a bitter follow-up for the Chargers, who per 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 Super Bowl look. The Bengals’ head coach was Forrest Gregg, who performed for the Packers within the Ice Bowl.
3. 1945 NFL championship sport
This was the Rams‘ final dwelling 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 attempting to remain heat with their legs buried in hay. A primary quarter security when Hall of Fame quarterback Sammy Baugh hit the objective submit with a go (objective posts have been on the objective line through the 1973 season) turned out to be the margin of victory on this chilly Cleveland day.
4. 2015 NFC wild-card playoff
The Seahawks scored all of their points within the fourth quarter, and acquired 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 Bank Stadium, the house of the Minnesota Golden Gophers soccer staff and momentary Vikings dwelling till U.S. Bank Stadium opened for the 2016 season.
5. 2023 AFC wild-card playoff
The host Chiefs put the warm-weather Dolphins’ playoff hopes right into a deep freeze. While the Dolphins’ playoff victory drought hit 23 seasons — the longest such streak within the league — the Chiefs reached no less than the divisional playoff spherical for a sixth consecutive season. Four weeks later, the Chiefs gained a second consecutive Super Bowl.
6. 2007 NFC championship sport
This epic cold-weather clash finally altered NFL historical past. After profitable this dramatic sport, the Giants went on to upset the 18-0 New England Patriots in Super Bowl 43 to forestall 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 reminiscences from this sport.
7. 1993 AFC divisional playoff
By this time, a lot of America was sick of seeing the Bills within the Super Bowl. That did not matter to the Bills, 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 Super Bowl look.
8. 1980 AFC divisional playoff
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 gained the sport with a subject objective. The Raiders went on to turn out to be the primary wild-card staff to win a Super Bowl.
9. 1996 NFC championship sport
“Ice Bowl II” – because it was dubbed on the time – wasn’t almost as chilly as the unique, however it did propel the Packers to their first Super Bowl look for the reason that 1967 season, which featured the well-known sport. The Panthers, in simply their second season of existence, have been no match for the Packers, who went on to win Super Bowl 31.
10 (tie). 1987 NFC divisional playoff
This brutally chilly sport – there’s one thing about frigid video games performed on synthetic turf that makes it appear even colder – helped Washington attain the Super Bowl, and despatched Walter Payton, then the NFL’s all-time main rusher, into retirement. Washington defeated the Minnesota Vikings in the NFC title game earlier than winning Super Bowl 22 in opposition to the Denver Broncos.
10 (tie). 1963 NFL championship sport
This was Bears proprietor/head coach George Halas’ sixth and last NFL title as coach, and the final championship sport look for a Giants staff that had appeared in six such video games in eight seasons. It can be 22 seasons earlier than the Bears would win one other title and 23 seasons for the Giants.
10 (tie). 2003 AFC divisional playoff
A late-game subject objective 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.
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