Most Notable Weather-Driven Games in NFL History
Christy Bowen
YesterdayThe NFL kicked off the regular season on Thursday night in Philadelphia as the hometown Eagles beat the Dallas Cowboys. The rest of the league will be in action this weekend with Mother Nature expected to wreak havoc on some of the contests. The start of the new season is a good time to look back at some of the most memorable NFL games that were impacted by the weather.
The Ice Bowl - December 1967
Ask any NFL historian and they will point to the Ice Bowl as being the most important game influenced by the weather. What made the game even more significant is that it was for the NFL championship. The contest between the Dallas Cowboys and the Green Bay Packers was played in Green Bay, Wisconsin, on December 31, 1977.
With an air temperature of minus 13 degrees, the game is still the coldest game in league history. Wind chills tumbled to nearly minus 40, making for a miserable experience for both the players and the spectators. Officials had to abandon using whistles because the metal was freezing to their lips. One fan died as a result of hypothermia while several players had to seek treatment for frostbite during the game.
Green Bay scored a late-game touchdown to win by a score of 21 - 17. The Packers went on to take the crown in the second-ever AFL-NFL World Championship Game, a contest now known as the Super Bowl.