The Miami Dolphins will play in one of the coldest games in NFL history in their first-round playoff game at Kansas City on Saturday night, but it's not going to come close to a 42-year-old playoff contest that came to be known as the "Freezer Bowl."
That was the 1981 AFC Championship Game between the San Diego Chargers and the Cincinnati Bengals at the old Riverfront Stadium, and one of the participants in that game was NBC analyst Cris Collinsworth.
He won't be on the call for the Dolphins-Chiefs game, though his partner Mike Tirico will be calling the game with Jason Garrett, with Collinsworth joining Tirico instead for the Sunday game between the Rams and Lions — indoors in Detroit.
On an NBC conference call Wednesday, Collinsworth's opening statements referenced that January 1982 game.
"Well, as a veteran of the 1981 season (Freezer) Bowl game that was 9 below zero with winds of 35 miles an hour and a wind chill of 59-below zero, I am very sad that I don't get a chance to be at Arrowhead with Mike and take on some of that weather again just to prove my manhood one more time."
COLLINSWORTH'S TAKE ON DOLPHINS-CHIEFS
While he won't be calling the game, Collinsworth certainly is in a good position to offer some insight into what the players will be dealing with Saturday night.
Collinsworth had two catches in that game against the Chargers in a 27-7 Cincinnati game, the week after the Chargers outlasted the Dolphins, 41-38, in overtime at the Orange Bowl in a game that was judged as the greatest in NFL history. The Bengals lost the Super Bowl against the San Francisco 49ers that season.
"It's gonna be tough," Collinsworth said. "I mean, I grew up in Florida. And that (Freezer) Bowl game was my rookie year, so it was the first time I had ever played in any game below like 32 degrees. And I had no idea what I was doing out there. Luckily, we were playing the Chargers and they had no idea what they were doing out there. But some of our guys — (quarterback) Kenny Anderson and (tight end) Dan Ross and some of those guys had played many games in those kinds of conditions. So a lot of those players, they didn't all grow up in Florida, though. They come from all over the country."
As for the game itself, Collinsworth thinks the bitter cold, which will make the passing game more difficult to execute, actually might be to the Dolphins' benefit.
"This Miami Dolphins team, it's really easy to put them in the speed category and go, that's what they are, and they're going to throw it and with Tua ((Tagovailoa) and Tyreek (Hill) and Jaylen (Waddle) and those guys, but at their core this is a running football team. And we have seen them be very explosive against good teams running the football and winning games running the football.
"So as strange as it sounds, there's an argument at least to be made that the tougher burden may be on Patrick Mahomes to have to carry that load in those conditions. Because the Miami Dolphins, if they are who I think they are in these types of games will be a running team."
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