When the Chicago Bears host the Green Bay Packers Sunday, the arctic blast currently gripping much of the country could produce the coldest temperatures ever recorded during a game at Soldier Field.
For the moment, the current franchise record was set in December 2008 when the Bears and Packers met up for a showdown that boasted temps of two degrees at kickoff. Temperatures around kickoff Sunday are expected to be two degrees below zero, which would make it one of the 10 coldest games in NFL history.
The majority of that list goes back a ways, with the two coldest games in league history coming in December of 1967 when the Cowboys and Packers played at a bone-chilling -13 degrees, and January of 1982 when the Chargers and Bengals met up at Riverfront Stadium during -9 degree temperatures.
But the third coldest NFL game ever happened just last season in a January playoff game between the Seahawks and the Vikings in Minnesota. Temps for that game reached -6 degrees with a startling wind chill of -25.
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The biggest issue playing in such extreme conditions, according to Seattle quarterback Russell Wilson, wasn't the ball that must have felt like a brick or the field that was probably as unforgiving as concrete. It was simply trying to talk.
"The hardest part was trying to communicate," Wilson said after the game. "It was so cold your mouth kept freezing when trying to communicate to those guys."
The Pro Bowl in Hawaii must sound pretty close to perfect right about now.