The coldest game of football ever – the story of the Ice Bowl

The 1967 NFL Championship game saw two legends of the game battle it out for what was seen as the World Championship and the chance to face the Oakland Raiders in Super Bowl II. Played in Green Bay, Wisconsin in December of 1967, this remains the coldest recorded NFL game ever. Let’s take a look at what happened.

NFL in the 1960s were dominated by one man and one team, the man was Vince Lombardi and the team was the Green Bay Packers. After beating the Los Angeles Rams in the previous round, the Packers were raring to go. Facing them was the Dallas Cowboys, fresh off a 52-14 dismantling of the Cleveland Browns.

Vince Lombardi was the Packers’ head coach from 1959-1968 where he won two Super Bowls and three NFL Championships (the precursor to the Super Bowl). Lombardi was a detail-obsessed coach who lived and breathed football, using his nouse and experience to lift the Packers into rarified air.

Facing Lombardi from the Cowboys’ sideline was Tom Landry, a similarly legendary coach who had previously worked with Lombardi whilst they were both at the New York Giants. Landry would lead the Cowboys to two Super Bowl triumphs himself.

In the buildup to the game, bookies fancied the Packers, seeing their experience as too much for the Cowboys. Landry was known for his calm manner and for building fearsome defenses, with his late-196os vintage becoming known as the ‘Doomsday Defense’ after simply refusing to allow teams to score on them, even in goal-line situations.

The Packers boasted Bart Starr under center, one of the first true stars of modern football, Starr would lead the Packers to five total NFL Championships. His opposing number was Don Meredith who retired with over 17,000 passing yards and earned himself a place in the NFL Hall of Fame. There was certainly no shortage of star power in this game.

As the buildup reached pandemonium, behind the scenes, officials, including NFL Commissioner Pete Rozelle, were questioning if the expected temperatures were too cold to safely play. With a postponement ruled out, Rozelle was informed the predicted temperature of 5 °F (−15 °C)  was safe to play.

Despite assurances the temperatures would be safe to play in, come game time things were looking far worse than expected. Rather than the frigid 5 °F (−15 °C), actual temperatures reached a low of −15 °F (−26 °C) with a wind chill of −48 °F (−44 °C).

To combat the icy conditions of Northern Wisconsin, Lombardi had ordered an underground heating system to be installed to keep the grass field playable in all conditions. Costing a staggering $80,000 ($750,000 today) the heating system failed before kick-off. It has since been nicknamed ‘Lomabrdi’s Folly’.

As part of the festivities of the day, the Packers had organized The Wisconsin State University–La Crosse marching band to perform pre-match and during halftime. But after instruments broke in the freezing weather and band members had to have brass mouthpieces plied from their frozen lips, the performances were canceled.

Wisconsinites grow up tough, used to the harsh and bitter winters of their state, freezing weather is nothing new to them. So, despite record-breaking lows, over 50,000 fans turned up to Lambeau field to watch their Packers take on the upstart Dallas Cowboys.

For players and fans, the weather was a brutal factor in the game, but the commentators had to suffer as well. Legendary player and commentator Frank Gifford at one point remarked, "I'm going to take a bite of my coffee," as it was frozen solid.

For the visiting Dallas Cowboys, they were able to travel to the game in a team coach, for Packers’ players it was a little more difficult as their cars had frozen overnight. Some players even hitched rides with fans to the game.

For the referees, the cold made things almost impossible. For starters, they were insufficiently dressed, with only a last-ditch trip to a sporting goods store getting them the thermal layers they needed. They were also without their whistles as they were freezing to their lips, having to rely on shouts to stop the play.

The game started brightly for the Packers as they moved into a 14-0 lead early. The cold would start to cause issues for both sides, but the Cowboys seemed to grow into the game, taking a 17-14 lead with just 4:50 left. This was Bart Starr’s crowning moment as he marched the Packers down the field in −70 °F (−57 °C) temperatures and dove in for the final score.

Dallas’ vaunted Doomsday Defense was nearly enough to stop the Packers, who were struggling to keep their grip on the frozen solid grass. After two unsuccessful running attempts, Bart Starr ran behind his center and guard for the winning score, Starr claimed, "We had run out of ideas," with his coach being somewhat more stoic, "We gambled and we won."

By all accounts, for both teams, the NFL Championship was still the pinnacle of the sport, with the subsequent game against the Raiders not viewed with such stature. Packer’s radio announcer Ted Moore exclaimed, “the Green Bay Packers are going to be...World Champions, NFL Champions, for the third straight year!" as Starr drove in for the winning score.

The Ice Bowl saw its fair share of casualties, including an elderly fan who passed away of hypothermia. The players were not much better off with players from both sides developing frostbite on any exposed body part. Cowboys’ defensive tackle Bob Lilly said, "The cold air hurt my lungs so, I've never been able to smoke a cigarette again. In fact, I can't even be in a room of smokers.”