Three extreme weather Eagles games for National Great Outdoors month
June is National Great Outdoors Month. To some that means hiking, camping or working in the garden. For Eagles fans, it’s a chance to remember three games where mother nature took center stage.
1948 NFL Championship Game
The NFL Championship game of 1948 was a rematch of the 1947 title game between the defending champion, the Chicago Cardinals and the Philadelphia Eagles. It was the first NFL championship to be televised and also took place during a blizzard.
After heavy snow fell throughout the morning, fans were told they could watch the game for free if they arrived at Philadelphia’s Shibe Park with a shovel. The grounds crew couldn’t move the tarp due to the amount of snow so players from both teams were summoned from the locker room to pull it off the field.
Philadelphia’s Hall of Fame halfback Steve Van Buren nearly missed the game altogether. Unable to move his car from his driveway, he took a bus, subway and train before walking several blocks to the stadium. He’d eventually score the game’s only touchdown, giving the Eagles a 7-0 victory.
The Fog Bowl
The 1988 NFC Divisional playoff game between the Bears and Eagles is often described as the game no one saw. The Bears won the contest 21-12 but what fans remember most was a dense fog that made the game nearly impossible to watch.
Late in the first half, a fog rolled in from Lake Michigan that reduced on-field visibility to about 20 yards. The fog was so thick that CBS announcers Verne Lundquist and Terry Bradshaw had to call the game from TV monitors because they couldn’t see the field.
To his credit, Eagles head coach Buddy Ryan didn’t blame the loss on the fog. ''You can't blame this loss on the weather,'' he said. ''But I could hardly see across the field, and I’m sure (the Bears) couldn’t, either. They`d run a play and I didn’t know who had the ball or what the hell was going on.''
Ironically, the fog went away once the game was over, but so did Philly’s chances of reaching Super Bowl XXII.
The Pickle Juice Game
On Sept. 3, 2000, the Philadelphia Eagles opened their regular season with a 41-14 road victory over the rival Dallas Cowboys. With a game-time temperature of 105 degrees and on-field temperatures reaching 130 degrees, second-year coach Andy Reid made his players drink pickle juice before the game.
While the science behind drinking brine is certainly debatable, Philadelphia couldn’t argue with the results. Dallas players battled cramps throughout the game while Eagles players had no problem with the heat.
The team opened the game by recovering their own onsides kick and running back Duce Staley rushed for a career-high 201 rushing yards. Philly’s defense held the Cowboys to 167 total yards in what would be the first of 11 wins that year.
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