Dolphins-Chiefs wild-card matchup in KC expected to be among coldest games in NFL history
Saturday night's forecast calls for a low of -8 degrees
Arrowhead Stadium is going to be freezing on Saturday night.
The Kansas City Chiefs will host the Miami Dolphins in their wild-card matchup on Saturday night in what could be one of the coldest games in NFL history.
The National Weather Service's forecast for Saturday evening in Kansas City: partly cloudy with a low of -8 degrees, with a wind chill of -21 and -28. (Taking out the negative sign, those look like football scores.) Wind conditions are projected to be "blustery," ranging from 10 mph to gusts of 30 mph.
There are many famous sub-zero temperature games throughout NFL history. “The Ice Bowl” comes to mind first, when the Dallas Cowboys and Green Bay Packers squared off in the NFL Championship game in 1967 with a listed temperature of -13 degrees and a wind chill pushing -50, per the NFL.
More recently, the wild-card game between the Seattle Seahawks and Minnesota Vikings in 2016 had a windchill of about -25 degrees. That game was played outside at the University of Minnesota while the Vikings were building U.S. Bank Stadium.
According to the Kansas City Star, the coldest game at Arrowhead Stadium occurred in 1983, when it was 0.5 degrees at kickoff. The Chiefs’ coldest home playoff game was 11 degrees, so Saturday’s matchup should safely break that record.
That’s going to be quite the adjustment for the Dolphins, too. The forecasted low for the Miami area on Saturday night is 64 degrees — though to be fair, that’s chilly for South Florida.
Had the Dolphins beaten the Buffalo Bills on Sunday night, they’d be hosting a playoff game. Instead, they’ll have to deal with Winter Storm Finn. That’s quite the consolation prize.
