Chiefs-Miami Dolphins game is coldest played in KC & among coldest in NFL history
The car said the temperature was 3 degrees upon arrival at Arrowhead Stadium. The American and three Super Bowl flags flying above GEHA Field, stretched by the force of 17 mph winds, completed the frigid picture.
The coldest game in Chiefs and Arrowhead history — and among the coldest in NFL history — was nearing kickoff.
A record low was all but assured an hour before the 7:10 p.m. kickoff, when the temperature had already plummeted to minus-2, with a wind chill of minus-21.
At kickoff, the temperature was minus-4 with a wind chill of minus-27.
Pushed from the books: Chiefs home games against the Denver Broncos in 1983 and Tennessee Titans in 2016, when the temperature at kickoff was 1 degree.
Wind chill for the Titans game was minus-9. For the Broncos game, according to the official game summary, it was minus-30.
This one will also keep company with the coldest games in NFL history: The Green Bay Packers’ victory over the Dallas Cowboys in the 1967 NFL Championship Game, played in Green Bay, Wisconsin, and known as the Ice Bowl, holds the record at minus-13.
Factoring in the wind chill, the coldest NFL game occurred in 1982, when the Cincinnati Bengals defeated the San Diego Chargers. The temperature that day was minus-9. The wind chill was minus-59.
The Arrowhead gates opened for fans at 5 p.m. Saturday, but only the bravest and most bundled-up entered then. The parking lots were filled with cars that could be seen with headlights burning as people remained in their vehicles as long as possible.
Fans were allowed to carry in blankets, batteries to power heated apparel and sheets of cardboard to place under their feet as insulation from the cold Arrowhead concrete. Warming stations were placed inside and outside the stadium.
A tarp covered the GEHA Field turf until about 2 1/2 hours before kickoff. The field showed frost; the heating system underneath the turf had never been tested like it was going to be Saturday.
Players went through their normal pre-game routines in sweats and face coverings. Most also wore gloves.
The temperature in Miami an hour before kickoff, for the record, was a balmy 69 degrees.
You're either @tommy_townsend or @chenal_leo today. No in between pic.twitter.com/sjTxF8GXMD
— Kansas City Chiefs (@Chiefs) January 13, 2024
Coldest NFL games, before Saturday:
Source: 2023 NFL Record and Fact Book
Minus-13 (minus-48 wind chill): Lambeau Field, Green Bay, Wis., 1967 NFL Championship Game, Packers-Cowboys
Minus-9 (minus-59 wind chill): Riverfront Stadium, Cincinnati, 1981 AFC Championship Game, Bengals-Chargers
Minus-6 (minus-25 wind chill): TCF Bank Stadium, Minneapolis, 2015 NFC First Round, Vikings-Seahawks
Minus-1 (minus-23 wind chill): Lambeau Field, Green Bay, 2007 NFC Championship Game, Packers-Giants.
