The Miami Dolphins will face another challenge in addition to playing the defending champion Kansas City Chiefs in a Wild Card battle on the road — the weather.
Saturday’s game is expected to be one of the coldest in NFL history. Unfortunately for the Dolphins, their history in cold weather games is not great.
Miami Dolphins’ History in Cold Games
The weather forecast calls for extremely cold weather in Kansas City this weekend, with temperatures below 0 degrees expected throughout the game. With the addition of the winds, it is going to feel more in the region of -20 to -25 as gusts of up to 30 mph sweep across the the area.
The good news? There is not expected to be any precipitation.
While it will be incredibly cold, the upcoming game will not surpass the coldest games in the league’s history. The coldest-ever NFL game saw the thermostat hit -13 for the “Ice Bowl” back in 1967. Meanwhile, the “Freezer Bowl” in 1982 saw wind chill temperatures of -59.
In games with a temperature below 50 degrees at kickoff, the Dolphins are 15-42 over the last 20 years — 2-19 in their last 21 games.
When the temperature is below 40 degrees at kickoff, the Dolphins are 8-19 over the past 20 years and have lost nine games in a row.
In their past 10 games where the kickoff temperature was 40 degrees or below, the Dolphins have gone 0-10, and they’ve lost those 10 games by an average of 17 points.
Quarterback Tua Tagovailoa, who led the NFL in passing yards this season with 4,624, has lost each of the five coldest starts of his career. He completed 57% of his passes for five touchdowns and seven interceptions in those matchups.
MORE: Miami Dolphins Depth Chart
Tagovailoa is 6-13 in games under 70 degrees (23-4 in games of 70+ degrees).
The current forecast in Kansas City is calling for a kickoff temperature of about 5 degrees for the game on Saturday, which will be starting at 7:15 p.m. CT. Not only is that well below 40 degrees, but it could end up being the coldest game in Dolphins history.
The Dolphins’ coldest game ever was also played in Kansas City back in 2008 on a day where the temperature was 10 degrees at kickoff.
The Chiefs, meanwhile, tend to thrive in the cold. In their past 10 home games where the temperature was under 40 degrees, the Chiefs have gone 9-1, including 4-0 in the playoffs.
The Chiefs and Dolphins last met in Germany in November, with Kansas City earning a 21-14 victory. The Chiefs scored all 21 points in the first half, while the Dolphins scored zero. Tyreek Hill caught eight passes for 62 yards, and the Dolphins recorded just 292 yards of total offense.
Tagovailoa said that he will see what it feels like on the field before seeing what they might have to do differently. Saturday will be Tagovailoa’s first NFL playoff game as he missed last year’s Wild Card matchup due to a concussion.
“I think it’s just a feel of how everything is, what the ball feels like, what throwing feels like, what holding the ball feels like, if there’s wind, if there’s not wind, you have to take all those things into consideration,” Tagovailoa said. “But we’ll go there, we’ll test it out and we’ll see what we have to do as far as adjusting or not.”
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