Not just regular cold. Frigid cold. Penguins wearing parkas cold. Not a great environment for human football players to perform their best.
And each team needs some level of best to make it to the next round. The Dolphins need Tua Tagovailoa to show up and be the top tier quarterback he’s capable of being. They need Jaylen Waddle and Raheem Mostert, who have been sidelined with injuries, to perform well in concert with Tyreek Hill, who also needs to have a big game.
The Chiefs need to cut down on the drops and mistakes, especially from their receivers (which was also true in the regular season). The Chiefs also need tight end Travis Kelce to become a stud again, a level of play that has eluded him lately.
It will be hard for any of this to happen in the bitter cold. Until the NFL can control the weather (they’ve probably been working on that for years in a secret lab), the players and coaches will have to make it work.
Follow along as Yahoo Sports provides the latest news, scores and highlights from NFL Wild Card Saturday.
Live16 updates
Tua Tagovailoa just matched his longest run of the year, at nine yards. The Chiefs bit on a fake toss and left him enough room for a first down.
Mahomes had Mecole Hardman open and way deep, but the wind was not his friend there. It falls just incomplete and the Chiefs are punting right back.
Dolphins open with a three-and-out, with two ineffective runs, a false start and a shallow pass that finishes well short. Chiefs will get good field position with the ball on their own 43-yard line.
The Chiefs open strong in the cold. Patrick Mahomes finds Rashee Rice for an 11-yard touchdown to cap a 69-yard opening drive. Kansas City leads, 7-0 early in the first.
Taylor Swift, meanwhile, gets an icy view from an Arrowhead Stadium box.
The weather’s not scaring the Chiefs away from their pass game. They open with three straight passes including a third-and-10 conversion from Patrick Mahomes to Travis Kelce.
Miami won the toss and will defer. The Chiefs have the ball first with a kickoff windchill at -27 degrees. Stay warm, Kansas City.
Another angle: Yep, still cold.
This does not look pleasant:
Some Dolphins players including De’Von Achane opting to go without sleeves:
They’re gonna do their best to keep the field as playable as possible in frigid conditions. Tackles are gonna hurt tonight.
The tarp is coming off the field at Arrowhead. Eventually, the surface will be heated to the best of the equipment’s ability. Right now, the air temp is -2. My thermometer is measuring the playing surface at 22 degrees. pic.twitter.com/wY2ueFmZpQ
