The 5 coldest games in NFL history
By Cody Rivera
Earlier this week, we thought the Patriots and Chiefs might be playing in an arctic blast at Arrowhead Stadium. Here’s a look at the five coldest NFL games ever played.
There have been a handful of brutally cold NFL games in the past, most commonly in the playoffs. We believed another one might have been added to the list on Sunday when the New England Patriots and Kansas City Chiefs squared off in the AFC Championship Game.
An arctic blast was expected to consume Kansas City on Sunday, and it likely would have resulted in the coldest game ever being played at Arrowhead Stadium. That’s really saying something, because Arrowhead was already the location for one of the top five coldest games in NFL history — a playoff game between the Chiefs and the Indianapolis Colts back in January 1996.
However, there will be no arctic blast, with game-time temperatures expected to be around 25 degrees. Still, it all got us thinking. Which games are the coldest in league history? Let’s take a look.
5. Oakland Raiders vs. Cleveland Browns — Jan. 4, 1981
The Oakland Raiders made a run all the way to Super Bowl XV in New Orleans, but not before surviving a brutally cold AFC divisional playoff game at Cleveland Municipal Stadium.
The game-time temperature was -5 degrees, but despite the vicious cold, the Raiders were able to cling to a 14-12 victory to move past the Cleveland Browns and advance to the AFC Championship Game. The deal was sealed for Oakland when Mike Davis intercepted Browns quarterback Brian Sipe with 41 seconds remaining — a play now famously known as “Red Right 88.”
The Raiders would go on to upset the San Diego Chargers in the AFC title game, before then upsetting the Philadelphia Eagles in Super Bowl XV.