Chiefs prepare for frigid Wild Card game weather vs Dolphins
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The Kansas City Chiefs are no stranger to playing in brisk, cold weather, and Saturday's Wild Card game will be one of the coldest games of the season.
With temperatures expected to be in the single digits and wind chill expected to be in the negative, everyone in attendance will need extra bundles of clothing and blankets.
The coldest Chiefs game on record was on Jan. 7, 1996, when it was 11 degrees at the start against the Indianapolis Colts. The second-coldest game was the 2020 AFC Championship against the Tennessee Titans.
Ahead of the Chiefs' Saturday night matchup with the Miami Dolphins, who are still seeing temperatures from the mid-70s to the low 80s this week, players didn't seem too concerned but shared how they prepare for cold games like this.
"What could be better, man, playing playoff football in January at Arrowhead Stadium? It's going to be cold. Kind of is what it is," quarterback Patrick Mahomes said Tuesday. "I'd rather be playing a football game than chasing my kids around the backyard. So I'll add a little bit of the adrenaline rush and I'm excited for it."
Mahomes said as a Texas native, he's had to adapt to the Midwest weather.
"Practicing with Coach Reid, you kind of have to. If there's an opportunity to go outside, he's gonna have you outside. He'll have the doors open in the indoor (facility). He's gonna let the cold air in, and I've realized that practice in the cold is a lot harder than playing in the cold just with the heaters and stuff that you have on the sideline and so you kind of just adapt to it," Mahomes said.
"But like you said, I grew up in Texas and didn't get any games like this. And I honestly kind of appreciate it. It's kind of cool to be at a stadium like this and the cold weather and you know, you're really playing football."
Defensive tackle Chris Jones isn't deterred by the temperatures either.
"It can be negative 13-degree weather. I think we just excited to be here with this opportunity ahead of us," the Pro Bowler said.
"It's cold all the time here, so it shouldn't play a factor. You know what I mean? Snowing one day; it's hot the next day. So hopefully, it warms up a little bit before the game, but if not, we'll be prepared to play whatever terrain they give us, what the universe gives us."
Cornerback Trent McDuffie is already preparing.
"They give us really comfortable long sleeves that are very warm and tights. You throw the ski mask on, throw the hand warmers in and ya just bear down," he said.
"Weather is weather," he added. "There's nothing you can really do about it."
Defensive end Charles Omenihu said this isn't the first time he's played in below-freezing temperatures.
"It's gonna be cold. But in 2021, I played in -9 (degrees) in Green Bay in the playoffs, so I done been there done that before," he said.
Unlike McDuffie, he's not going change much up for Saturday's game.
"I'm a creature of habit. If I ain't wear long sleeves all year in any other cold game, why [am I going to] do it now?" he said.
As a Florida native and former Jacksonville Jaguar, left tackle Jawaan Taylor said cold-weather teams have a clear advantage over warm-weather teams in these kinds of games.
"Absolutely," Taylor said with a smile when asked about it. "When I came here last year when we played in the playoffs, it was very cold for us and none of us was used to it so it was definitely an advantage for the cold team."
The Dolphins, as a franchise, have lost the last 10 football games that were played at 40 degrees or lower. According to the South Florida Sun Sentinel, Miami has never won a playoff game with a kickoff temperature of 46 degrees or colder.
Head coach Andy Reid disagreed with that kind of thinking though.
"Now, I don't think you bank on all that. That's where you get into trouble," Reid said. "Guys are pretty resilient. And so you get you get yourself ready and if it works out that way for you or whatever. I don't know how to I don't know how to quantify that.
"I just say get ready for the game. Let's do that. I don't really care what goes on out here. We're not having a snowball fight."
Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. Saturday at Arrowhead Stadium.