KANSAS CITY, Missouri – The Kansas City Chiefs and Miami Dolphins are preparing for a wild-card weekend playoff matchup in frigid temperatures at Arrowhead Stadium. Both teams have faced challenges throughout the regular season, including injuries and inconsistent play, but now they must endure the cold weather as well. Kickoff took place at 8 p.m. ET on Saturday and the temperature is expected to drop as low as 8 degrees.
The Dolphins could have been hosting a playoff game in Miami if they had secured home-field advantage by defeating the Buffalo Bills in Week 18. However, they now find themselves on the road, facing the coldest game in Dolphins’ history. The Chiefs, despite being at home, are not banking on the weather giving them an advantage. Coach Andy Reid stated that “cold is cold.”
The game between the Chiefs and Dolphins has set new records for both teams. Saturday’s kickoff temperature of negative 4 degrees marked the fourth coldest in NFL history. With the wind chill, it felt like negative 27 degrees. The Dolphins are no strangers to cold weather games, having lost their last 10 games in 40-degree or below weather by an average margin of 17 points.
Miami quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, who hails from Hawaii and played his collegiate career in Alabama, admitted that he has never been in temperatures lower than 15 degrees. He acknowledged that it will be a new experience and that it’s impossible to fully prepare for such extreme conditions.
Receiver Tyreek Hill, who spent the past six seasons with the Chiefs before being traded to the Dolphins, feels confident about returning to Kansas City despite the weather. He believes that mindset plays a crucial role in handling the cold and plans to play without sleeves to show his teammates that toughness is essential.
This game marks the coldest in the history of both the Chiefs and Dolphins franchises. It surpasses the previous records set in 2008 when the Dolphins played the Chiefs at Arrowhead Stadium. The record-breaking temperature for the game is negative 4 degrees, with a wind chill of negative 12 degrees.
As the Chiefs and Dolphins battle it out in freezing temperatures, they join a long list of teams that have played in extreme weather conditions throughout NFL history. Among the coldest games in NFL playoff history is “The Ice Bowl” between the Green Bay Packers and Dallas Cowboys in 1967, which registered at a blistering negative 13 degrees with wind chills of negative 48 degrees.
Despite the frigid conditions, the players are ready to embrace the challenge. Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes stated that playing football in January at Arrowhead Stadium is a unique experience that adrenaline and sideline heaters help with.