January 15, 2023 – Ice Bowl

It has been a brutal weather weekend for playoff football! The Miami-Chiefs game Saturday night was the 4th coldest game on record, while the Steelers-Bills game had to be postponed to this afternoon because of a major snowstorm. So today, we’re talking about the coldest NFL game on record, 1967’s NFL Championship Game, better known as the Ice Bowl. It was played on New Years Eve at Lambeau Field, pitting the Green Bay Packers against the Dallas Cowboys.
The game time temperature in Green Bay was -15 degrees, with wind chills around -48 degrees. The $80,000 turf-heating system at Lambeau Field malfunctioned, leaving the field to gradually freeze, covered by an icy surface that worsened as more of the field fell into the stadium’s shadow. The Wisconson State University-La Crosse Marching Chiefs band was scheduled to play pregame and during halftime. However, during their warmups, the woodwind instruments froze and the mouthpieces of the brass instruments got stuck to the players’ lips. Seven members of the band had to be transported to local hospitals to be treated for hypothermia.
Before the game, many Packers players couldn’t start their cars in the freezing temperatures, forcing some to flag down random passing motorists for a ride to the stadium. The officials couldn’t use their whistles because they froze to their lips. Instead, the referees had to use voice their commands and calls to officiate the game.
The Packers went on to win the game 21-17. After the game, several players developed frostbite and some suffered from flu-like symptoms. That year, Green Bay finished the postseason by easily defeating the Oakland Raiders 33-14. No game at Lambeau Field has ever been so cold, but the 2007 NFC Championship game came close, with a temperature of 0 degrees and -23 windchill. Learn more here.