The game is legendary, and the brutal weather conditions not exaggerated. By all rights, the NFL may have delayed or relocated the game from Green Bay, Wisconsin if played in 2015.
-15 F, with wind chills around -50
The fields heating system broke down, creating an ice skating rink.
Many Packers players could not drive to the game when their cars wouldn’t start.
One of the Cowboys wide receivers hands froze and split open halfway through the game.
The marching band had to cancel when their wood wind instruments froze to their mouths, as well as a referees whistle.
That said, it managed to be a classic game with Green Bay winning the NFL title 24-17 and Dallas actually brokenhearted they didn’t win the game, even under such conditions.
In terms of weather, is this the most brutal weather conditions ever experienced in sports history? Im willing to hear arguments about games played in monsoons, overly hot weather, whatever. Not at all interested in how your sons Mite Hockey Team had to play in 15 degree weather in an outdoor ring with sleet, if ya know what I mean . . .
I always enjoyed the Snow Bowl game between Tampa Bay and Green Bay. It was a blizzard, and it was especially funny because Tampa Bay was there.
But from my understanding, the Ice Bowl was tons worse. I’ve played touch football on a frozen field, and it fucking hurts. I can’t imagine being tackled on a solid ice field.
I watched that AFC Championship game in my freezing dorm room with the flu and a 102 deg temperature. Atlanta was not as cold as Cincinnati, but it was close.
My Ga Tech dorm room was horribly insulated. I had the radiator on full blast and could barely keep the room to a tolerable temperature. It would either be freezing cold or the radiator was making the room at 85 degrees.
The Ice Bowl was bad. The cold and the wind combined to make conditions dangerous which is why some players actually suffered frostbite. This was in 1967 before the modern materials for gloves and undergarments so later games with similar conditions did not have the same impact on the players.
Also the field was frozen. This was a well used grass field so the footing was horrible. It really impacted the Cowboys who had a high powered offense.
While I was not there my father was as a backup defensive lineman for the Cowboys. Whenever we were out in the cold wind and I complained he would just say I didn’t know what cold was.
The 2003 Heritage Classic with Montreal playing at Edmonton outdoors on November 22 was pretty cold.
Formula 1 1976 Japanese Grand Prix as Nikki Lauda (and others) quit early because of rain (got to keep those television contracts). Lauda’s decision probably cost him the title
I’m not old enough to remember the Ice Bowl, but that Freezer Bowl was frickin’ insane. I was in the Air Force in tech school at Chanute AFB at the time (downstate Illinois) and it was so cold there that weekend that they quarantined everybody to the dorms. Nobody was allowed outside except for emergency personnel and (I’m not joking about this) pizza delivery guys. It was down around -20 F that day at Chanute. Cincinnati was a downright balmy -9 F.
We were all hanging out in the dayroom of the dorm I was in watching the game, and one of the guys started running his mouth about “It’s not that cold out”. Possibly inspired by a shot of a shirtless fan at the game (although my memory of that may be mistaken) he bet us all that he could go outside for 5 minutes without his shirt on. We pooled together $50 to take him up on it, and at halftime he went outside without his shirt. About 2 minutes in he came back in, and I’m not sure I’ve seen that shade of red either before or since. We gave him the $50 anyway.
This one was absolutely incredible to watch. I don’t remember if it was a nationally televised game (playoffs so it probably was) but many of you might not remember how insane that was, it was literally impossible to see anything on TV. Refs couldn’t see the ball in the air on field goal kicks. I’m sure there were quite a few missed calls that day. Stakes weren’t quite as high, but it was remarkable and perhaps impacted the actual dynamics and outcome of the game more than those extreme cold games.
I found this article when trying to track down the specifics of the “Mud Bowl” or “Rain Game” in Kansas City. A regular season game but I still remember how wild that was and the iconic photo of Derrick Thomas sitting in a puddle at midfield.
Has to be the winner. Amazing, never knew that story.
I believe this is the official winner. This game had wind chiils that hit -59 F, which is just insane.
It was also played on artificial turf, which is a much worse surface than natural grass. Granted, the grass and ground in Green Bay was frozen, but the artificial turf in Cincinnati was like green-painted concrete on a warm, summer day. I can’t even begin to think how unforgiving it would be at that low temp. Falling on that field was like playing tackle football on a parking lot.
Both this game and the Ice Bowl were brutally cold, but IIRC, the game in GB did not suffer from the massive wind gusts that the game in Cincinnati had.
There is one other game that comes to mind… It was the AFC Championship game in 1978 (I think) between the Steelers and Oilers in Pittsburgh. This game was played on artificial turf, in freezing rain. It wasn’t nearly as brutal as the two games I mentioned previously, however it did have one thing the other two did not… It soaked players to the bone. Many players who hit the ground were soaked with freezing water, and had to suffer with their wet clothes in the freezing weather… I think they could change into dry gear if they had it at half-time, but that was it. Icicles were hanging from the goal posts.
Not a game I’d want to play in or sit through. Nothing is more miserable than being cold AND wet.
Played in a HS football game exactly like that. It was punishing. I compounded it by forgetting to pack layers in my bag and having to wear nothing by my mesh jersey with my mesh road jersey as an undershirt. The field was a shared field and we were the 4th game of the weekend to play on it so it was basically a 4 inch deep mud puddle that slowly froze. Plus they’d thrown down hay to try and solidify things in the days prior which promptly started to decompose into basically manure. Coldest I’ve even been in my life by a wide margin.
I realize that I just broke the OPs rule there, but screw it it was relevant!
My college roommate went to this game with his brother. They each had on every layer of cold weather gear they had, plus were in sleeping bags, and they still nearly froze. I remember putting a glass 1L bottle of Pepsi on the back step to cool down for the game - after 20 minutes I opened it and it immediately turned to ice.
The late 70’s-early 80’s winters in the Midwest were brutal! Last winter was just a reminder of what we seemed to have every year back when I was a pup.
Not a playoff game, or extremely cold, but probably the muddiest football game ever was played between Michigan and Northwestern at Soldier Field on Nov 7, 1925. Not only was #1 ranked Michigan undefeated thus far in the season, they had yet to give up any points in any previous game.
But it was a heavy rain on a cold day and Soldier Field was literally a pit of mud covered with standing water, with players standing ankle-deep and barely able to walk or run.
NU received the opening kickoff and on the first play from scrimmage, punted. Michigan flubbed the return and NU recovered on the Michigan 3 yard line. After three attempts to run the ball, NU was forced to settle for a field goal – which ended up being the only points scored on Michigan the entire 1925 season.
For the rest of the game the teams punted back and forth, usually on second or third down. Late in the game Michigan’s defense pushed NU back to its own 1 yard line. Instead of punting from the endzone, NU stepped back and took the safety, which under the rules at the time allowed them to get the ball back and start a new drive at their own 30 yard line (the rule was changed the following year).
Final score: 3-2 NU, and an end of the year 7-1 record and #2 ranking for Michigan who had outscored all their opponents 227-3.
My Dad was at the Ice Bowl. Only reason he went was because one of his largest suppliers (Dad worked for JC Penney’s) wanted to go and my dad was able to get some tickets. Said it was the coldest he’s ever been.
