John KeimJan 15, 2026, 06:00 AM ETCloseJohn Keim covers the Washington Commanders for ESPN. He joined ESPN in 2013 after a stint with the Washington Post. He started covering the team in 1994 for the Journal Newspapers and later for the Washington Examiner. He has authored/co-authored four books. You can also listen to him on ‘The John Keim Report’, which airs on ESPN Richmond radio.Follow on X
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A FEW HOURS before kickoff of the Jan. 20, 2008, NFC Championship Game between the Giants and Packers in frigid Green Bay, around 10 New York players did what they always do: took a walk around the field.
They were bundled up, with temperatures falling to minus 1 with a minus 23 wind chill. Their vaporized breath filled the air; the cold snapped at their faces.
“They knew a little more than we did,” former Giants punter Jeff Feagles said. “That’s when I knew it was going to be super, super cold.”
The severity of the cold didn’t surprise the Giants players. They read the weather reports. They brought extra clothing and toe and hand warmers. They brought the usual halftime refreshments appropriate for cold weather — broth and hot chocolate.
But it wasn’t enough early on. During pregame warmups, despite wearing gloves for the first time in his 21-year career, Feagles, who also served as the holder for kicker Lawrence Tynes, said his hands and feet were so cold that when it was time for him to take some practice kicks he caught one snap and opted not to kick. He said it was the only time in his career that he did not punt a ball in warmups.
“I was freezing and didn’t want to put bad thoughts in my head,” said Feagles, whose hands would become important to the outcome. “I remember putting my hands underneath the sink with warm water and my hands just started to hurt.
While not as severe as what Feagles & Co. experienced, frigid weather will await the Bears and Los Angeles Rams in Sunday’s NFC divisional round game in Chicago, where the temperature for the 6:30 p.m. ET kickoff (NBC, Peacock) is forecast to be 16 degrees, with wind gusts around 20 miles per hour that will make it feel like 4 degrees.
More than a dozen current and former NFL players told ESPN that preparing to play in below-freezing temperatures is a challenge that comes with many considerations and strategies. Players know they must be physically prepared, with some — such as Rams QB Matthew Stafford, perhaps inspired by Tom Brady — wearing scuba suits to fend off the cold.
There’s also mental prep. Players hunt for signs the weather is affecting an opponent in order to gain a psychological or on-field advantage. Others, such as Von Miller, play mind games to convince themselves that others have played in worse conditions.
Other hurdles include frozen fingers getting jammed and numb hands changing the way offensive linemen approach their blocking assignments. Even the simple act of drinking water becomes a difficult task. On a more serious note is the risk of frostbite, which Dolphins defensive lineman Zach Sieler and former Seattle Seahawks safety Kam Chancellor said they’ve both suffered during games.
Although players differ on their approach, many agree there is one thing that can warm their bodies instantly: winning.
In overtime, the Giants’ ticket to Super Bowl XLII rested on a 47-yard Tynes field goal attempt. Tynes trotted out, and Feagles, with his tackified receiver gloves on, prepped to hold.
“It was a high snap, and I was able to get it down. I knew once he hit it he had the distance because I could tell the sound of it. It started out right, but I knew it was coming back right to left,” Feagles said of the successful kick, which gave the Giants a 23-20 victory. “Then Lawrence left me hanging there and ran right into the locker room. I guess he just wanted the warmth.
LEAVE IT TO Brady to come up with a unique way to combat the cold. New England’s divisional round game against the Tennessee Titans on Jan. 10, 2004, was considered the coldest game in Pats franchise history — 4 degrees at kickoff; a wind chill of minus 10.
Brady, who went 35-8 in games when the temperature at kickoff was 32 degrees or less, knew what he was doing. He told ESPN’s Mike Reiss in 2017 that the suit “insulates you from the cold. It keeps the wind from penetrating, and it really doesn’t limit movement too much.”
If it worked for Brady, then it must be worth trying. Stafford said he wore one when he played for Detroit in cold weather games. The Lions played in a dome but visited Green Bay and Chicago every year.
“I’ve worn it quite a few times since I’ve been here,” said Stafford, who joined the Rams in 2021. “It keeps you warmer. That’s how it affects me. It’s not skintight or anything like that.”
But that doesn’t mean everyone swears by the garb. Quarterback Marcus Mariota wore one while playing for the Titans during a game at the Kansas City Chiefs in the 2017 postseason — a suggestion from former Brady teammate Matt Cassell. It was one of two pieces of equipment that failed Mariota that day.
“I was somewhat warm with it, but I just felt like it was kind of restricting as a thrower,” Mariota said. “I remember I usually wear a visor, and pregame had to take the visor off. From my breath, it froze the eye shield, and it was crazy. They couldn’t even get it off my helmet until we got back into the locker room.”
Former Chiefs offensive lineman Nick Allegretti, currently with the Washington Commanders, played in a handful of cold weather games each season in Kansas City. They practiced 20 to 30 days in cold weather and had a chance to learn how to dress for such conditions.
“I still go sleeveless just because I don’t like playing with sleeves,” said Allegretti, who was a reserve lineman in the Chiefs’ 2024 playoff win over Miami. “I would do a scuba suit and then thermal [shirt], double socks, usually like a small thin winter glove under the gloves. … Obviously, it was much colder [vs. Miami], so I just amped it up a little bit.”
Linebacker Miller played in Buffalo and Denver and said because of heated benches and insulated jackets available to players, he doesn’t feel the need to wear anything extra but a turtleneck.
“Practicing in the cold is different than playing in the cold,” Miller said. “Playing in the cold, we got everything that we need. You got hand warmers. You got shoe warmers. The bench is heated.
“And then you’re only going out [on the field] for five minutes. Then you’re coming back to the sideline and putting the jackets on, getting bundled up on the sideline. Games are not as bad as people think.”
San Francisco receiver Kendrick Bourne, who played in cold weather in college at Eastern Washington, has his system down: long sleeves, maybe tights. But only one layer.
“You don’t need to wear a ton because I’m going to get hot and it could slow me down. You can always heat up. You can’t cool down,” he said. “Once you’re in the game and adrenaline [is] going, you’re good. But the hardest part is pregame and early on.”
Guard Andrew Wylie, who played in cold weather games with the Chiefs from 2017 to 2022, uses the heaters on the bench to keep his hands warm before taking the field. He also sticks his cleats in front of them to “stay hot for a minute or two.”
Bears safety Kevin Byard III played in extreme cold weather twice, also at Kansas City. As a rookie in 2016, the temperature was 1 degree; four years later, the Titans played at Arrowhead in the AFC Championship when it was 17 degrees at kickoff.
Another strategy: the halftime drink. Some players drink bone or chicken broth. Allegretti preferred hot chocolate.
“Oh, yeah. You have to,” he said. “But halftime is never shorter than during a cold game because you finally get warm and they’re like, ‘Two minutes!’ It’s a challenge.”
BOBBY WAGNER WITNESSED a first while warming up for a Jan. 10, 2016, NFC wild-card game in Minnesota.
Chancellor said a couple of days after that Seattle win, he noticed black marks on his fingertips and fingernails. After being diagnosed by doctors, he was told he had frostbite.
“I had never had frostbite,” Chancellor told ESPN. “I was like, ‘Wait, are y’all going to cut my fingers off?'”
When it turns bitterly cold, players must account for even the smallest things, such as squirting water into their mouths. Miller knows why, thanks to Denver’s 2013 divisional round overtime loss to Baltimore.
“If you don’t get [the water] all in your mouth, and it spills on your mustache or your shirt, it icicled up,” Miller said. “[Ravens guard] Marshall Yonda had a beard, and he had icicles in his beard, and he had icicles on his chest.”
“The worst part is a jammed finger. You jam a finger in the cold, and it’s shattered,” Allegretti said. “You make it through a cold game without jamming a finger, that’s rare. They’re just more rigid.”
The hardest part for them, Wylie said, is keeping their hands warm. He said in some games he couldn’t feel the defender with his hands.
“You’re just patty-caking,” he said. “You’re not striking and grabbing. You’ve got to have feeling in your hands.”
Even penmanship suffers. In 2007, in his third year with Green Bay as a backup, quarterback Aaron Rodgers experienced his coldest game when the Packers played at Chicago on Dec. 23. Wind gusts of 22 miles an hour turned a 16-degree day into a minus 22 wind chill.
“I was trying to chart plays, and my fingers were shaking so bad, in the second quarter I said I can’t even write at this point,” Rodgers said.
THE COLD ALSO presents opportunities to gain an advantage on opponents if you know what to look for.
Offensive linemen “don’t like to grab as much,” Miller said. “They don’t like to shoot their hands as much. I like it as cold as possible. So long as the field’s not frozen, as long as it’s not snowing it’s good. Once it starts snowing it evens out because guys can wrestle you and you can’t hit those [rush] angles that you want.”