Green Bay Packers Vs. San Francisco 49ers Game Set To Become Ice Bowl II
Will the Green Bay Packers vs. the San Francisco 49ers wild card game this coming Sunday, January 5 become known as “Ice Bowl II”?
The weather is expected to be frigid. The Frozen Tundra — as Green Bay is known for to football fans — will surely be living up to its famous name this weekend, as the Packers attempt to get past the 49ers once and for all to advance to the next round of the playoffs.
The original Ice Bowl — the coldest game on record — took place in 1967 during the NFL Championship Game between the Western Conference Champions, the Green Bay Packers, and the Eastern Conference Champions, the Dallas Cowboys, at Lambeau Field on New Year’s Eve.
The winner of the Ice Bowl would go on to play the champion of the American Football League at that year’s Super Bowl II.
Because of the the incredibly extreme weather conditions and the dramatic ending of the game, it became known as the Ice Bowl.
Could this weekend’s game between the Green Bay Packers and San Francisco 49ers be dubbed Ice Bowl II?
The weather conditions would be just about as bad as they were in 1967, with temperatures in the single digits and approaching zero degrees by kick-off time and dropping. Wind is expected to be in excess of 10 mph, making the wind chills well into negative numbers. Altogether miserable.
The original Ice Bowl in 1967 was a re-match of the 1966 playoff game — much like Sunday’s game is of the one played last year — and the Green Bay Packers were attempting to win three consecutive trips to the Super Bowl.
The playoff game also had two Hall of Fame coaches facing off in the worst possible weather conditions, Tom Landry for the Cowboys and the legendary Vince Lombardi for the Green Bay Packers.
There was a crowd of almost 51,000 all those years ago. This time around, Green Bay has not sold out its seats at this time.
Aaron Rodgers, the Green Bay Packers’ quarterback, just came back from a broken collarbone injury last Sunday to lead his team past their arch rivals the Chicago Bears to win their division.
On Sunday, with the extreme temperatures it’s anyone’s guess as to who will win. The Packers are used to practicing and playing in cold weather and San Francisco isn’t, but the ball and the field will do things neither team is used to.
In 1967 temperatures were -13 degrees Fahrenheit with wind chills that made it feel like it was -48 degrees.
It remains to be seen just how cold it will get at Lambeau Field this weekend and whether record temperatures will make the Ice Bowl lose its standing as the coldest game ever played.
“Winter is coming. It’s here. It’s here in Green Bay. It’s definitely going to have an effect on the game. You know, not everybody in this locker room is from the great state of Wisconsin. We do practice in it, live in it, I think we’re going to be better adapting to it initially, but once the game starts, it’s about who can execute in the cold weather. It does some different things to the football.” Aaron Rodgers, Green Bay Packers‘ star quarterback, said of the upcoming game.
In 1967, the Packers won the hard-fought game 21-17 in one of the most emotional victories the team has seen. Watch the playoff game between Green Bay and San Francisco on Sunday at 4:40 pm on Fox.
