It’s awfully damn cold on this last NFL Sunday of the 2017 regular season. Teams throughout the Midwest, Northeast, and even the South are taking special precautions against the record-setting low temperatures.
How NFL players are dealing with record cold temperatures for Week 17 games
Frigid temperatures are making things uncomfortable around the NFL in Week 17.
Photo by Elsa/Getty Images
Jeanna Kelley has been covering the Falcons for The Falcoholic since 2011 and the NFL for SB Nation since 2015.
Browns left tackle-turned-team meteorologist Joe Thomas explained how players will deal with the cold temperatures on Sunday. Look for players to have holes, like pockets, cut into their jerseys. They’ll have hand warmers in there to keep their fingers from freezing.
Even the Southeast is affected. The Falcons took special precautions considering Atlanta’s projected high of 40 degrees on Sunday. They shut down outdoor fan activities and encouraged fans to stay warm and watch the 1 p.m. ET games inside the new Mercedes-Benz Stadium instead.
Exactly how cold is it?
Sunday is uncomfortably chilly for teams hosting games in outdoor stadiums this week based on the forecasted high temperatures. The wind chills are even worse.
- The coldest game: It should be Jets vs. Patriots, which features a high of 13 degrees ad a wind chill as low as minus 8 degrees. Tom Brady’s all bundled up from head to toe for this one.
Bill Belichick started the day dressed for much warmer weather.
It didn’t last.
Jets safety Jamal Adams was completely unfazed by the cold.
- Closest to average: It’s a little easier for players in Browns vs. Steelers (high of 15 degrees, wind chill as low as minus 6 degrees), Washington vs. Giants (high of 17 degrees, wind chill between 0-5 degrees), and Bengals vs. Ravens (high of 25 degrees, wind chill of 16 degrees). It’s frosty, but all of these players are at least used to cold climates this time of year.
Steelers safety Robert Golden looks like he’s enjoying it.
The Eagles are into it, too.
It’s been a while since Washington has played a game in this weather. The 16-degree temperature at kickoff made it the coldest game Washington has played since it beat the Bears 21-17 in the divisional round of the 1988 postseason.
- Biggest shock for road teams: Cowboys vs. Eagles features a high of 20 degrees. That’s an adjustment for a team that plays their home games in Dallas. And the visiting Jaguars left behind a high of 57 degrees in Jacksonville to take on the Titans in 28-degree weather.
This isn’t the coldest game the Cowboys have ever played.
Even with heated fields to soften the ground, warm benches, and heaters on the sideline, it’s terribly cold for these players this week.
Why is it so cold?
An Arctic blast has swept down into the United States, bringing frigid weather to a huge chunk of the country. It’s brought record low temperatures and dropped the wind chill to well below zero in the Midwest and Northeast. Even the southeastern United States has wind chills in the low teens on Sunday, which will continue into the New Year.
Will any of these be the coldest NFL game on record?
No. That high — or low, depending on how you want to look at it — mark was set back in 1967, and it will be a tough one to topple.
That was the Ice Bowl between the Cowboys and Packers at Lambeau Field exactly 50 years ago on Sunday. It was the NFL Championship Game. The Packers fought through minus 13 degree temperatures and a wind chill of minus 48 degrees to get the 21-17 win over the Cowboys.
If you’re working off of wind chill, the coldest game on record was the 1982 AFC Championship Game between the Chargers and the Bengals in Riverfront Stadium in Cincinnati. It was aptly nicknamed the Freezer Bowl for the minus 9 degree temperatures and the wind chill of minus 59 degrees. The Bengals, who were a bit more used to the weather than the Chargers, got the 27-7 win.
Compared to those two, this weekend’s temperatures are downright balmy. But be sure to bundle up if you’re catching any of Sunday’s games.
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