It\u2019s easy to forget, given the number of times that Southern California NFL teams have headed into the frigid climes of the North for postseason games only to have their championship hopes shoved into the deep freeze.<\/p>\n
(Trust me, we\u2019ll address those.)<\/p>\n
But when the Rams ventured into Soldier Field 40 years ago this week for the NFC championship game, what turned out to be another lost postseason Sunday wasn\u2019t a result of the frost. It was the wind.<\/p>\n
The Rams lost that game to the eventual Super Bowl champs, 24-0. And any Rams fan who was around for that game probably remembers Dieter Brock, and the irony that the quarterback the Rams brought in from the Canadian Football League was befuddled by winds that reached up to 23 mph, to go with 36 degree temperatures and 26-degree wind chill.<\/p>\n
This time, the Rams have Matthew Stafford at quarterback, a significant upgrade. But the conditions for their divisional round game Sunday evening at Soldier Field are expected to be even more raw. The Weather Channel forecast for the 5:30 CST kickoff (3:30 our time), as of Saturday afternoon: Around 18 degrees en route to a low of 10, a 43 percent chance of snow by kickoff and 12 mph winds.<\/p>\n
(And the timing is good, at that, because there\u2019s a \u201cgale watch\u201d for Chicago from 12 a.m. to 9 a.m. Monday morning.)<\/p>\n
Does it matter? The Rams insist it won\u2019t, which may be their way of hoping it won\u2019t. But history is not on their side. Since 1960, when weather conditions were first included in NFL box score information, the Rams franchise has played 15 postseason games in 45 degree temperatures or colder. (That includes one 45-degree outdoor game in Seattle as the St. Louis Rams in 2005. Their other eight playoff games in 21 St. Louis seasons were in domes.)<\/p>\n
As an L.A. team, living and practicing in balmier conditions before having to play in the chill, their playoff record at 45 degrees or less is 5-9. At 35 or below it\u2019s 2-8, and in 25 degrees or colder it\u2019s 1-4. (Included in those numbers are three excruciating, and bone-chilling, losses at Minnesota in 1969, 1974 and \u201976 before the Vikings moved indoors.<\/a><\/p>\n It\u2019s not just a Rams phenomenon, either. The Chargers are 2-8 in playoff games of 45 degrees or less, including a 1981 loss at Cincinnati in 9 degree temperatures with a wind chill of minus-32. The Raiders in their 12 seasons as an L.A. team were 0-3 at 40 degrees or less, including a 29-23 playoff loss at Buffalo in January, 1994 where the temperature was zero and the wind chill minus-14.<\/p>\n Now do you understand why SoCal football fans of long standing shiver, even in the comfort of their own homes, when the home team plays in the frozen north? Last January\u2019s narrow divisional round loss in the snow in Philadelphia, a 28-22 defeat in which the Rams failed to convert a fourth-and-11 with 31 seconds left at the Eagles 22,<\/a> was, pun intended, a chilling reminder.<\/p>\n Including regular season games since the Rams returned to L.A. in 2016, they\u2019re 4-10 in 45 degree temperatures or less and 1-4 in temperatures below 25. So when players and coaches, including Sean McVay, joked this week about playing in the cold \u2026 well, it sounded a lot like attempting to not let it get into their heads.<\/p>\n McVay quipped that his fate was in the hands of equipment guy Brendan Burger. \u201cMaybe I\u2019ll have a heated vest,\u201d he said, adding that it took long enough, with prodding from his wife and his mother, to get him to wear a beanie on the sidelines as he did last year in Philly.<\/p>\n \u201cI don\u2019t give a crap about me being warm or cold,\u201d he said. \u201cThat (stuff) doesn\u2019t matter at all. It\u2019s about our players \u2026 You think I\u2019m going to dress up like the Michelin man or something?\u201d<\/p>\n Toward the end of last season, before a game with the New York Jets in the Meadowlands where temperatures reached 23 degrees, linebacker Jared Verse was one of a few teammates who went out onto the field shirtless during warmups.<\/p>\n \u201cThat was all Michael Hoecht,\u201d Verse told reporters this past week, referring to the defensive end who was with the Rams last year and is now with Buffalo. \u201cThat was all his idea. He came outside with no shirt and the rest of us took our shirts off.<\/p>\n \u201cHoecht\u2019s not here right now so I don\u2019t plan on taking mine off,\u201d he added, drawing laughs. \u201cI might (wear a) short sleeve, like always, but shirtless, we\u2019ll have a conversation about that.\u201d<\/p>\n