Vikings brace for one of the coldest games in National Football League history

The current record holder was a December 1992 game against the Denver Broncos when kickoff temperature was 13 degrees.

If you’re planning on attending Sunday’s NFL Wild Card round matchup between the Minnesota Vikings and Seattle Seahawks, you better dress warm. The leading tackler on the league’s No. 1-ranked run defense had game highs in tackles (10) and solo stops (nine).

Senators from Washington and Minnesota are betting on an National Football League playoff game as teams from their home states prepare to face off. They will get a taste of that weather Sunday when they play at Minnesota at TCF Bank Stadium in a NFC wild card playoff game.

“It makes it easy when your starters and your Pro Bowl guys are putting in that kind of effort and knowing the importance of it. When you come into this program as a rookie you might not value special teams as much”. And cold can be dealt with more easily than snow/ice on the field.

“I see it as an advantage for us, being used to it”, right guard Mike Harris said. We think he’s an incredible football player.

Asked about the impact of the players who could return, Seahawks Head Coach Pete Carroll, a former Vikings assistant, said, “It adds to the confidence and the spirit of the guys … The kicking game was extremely important”.

The Vikings played indoors in the Metrodome from 1982-2013, but they’re temporarily playing outdoors at the University of Minnesota while a new stadium is under construction. Now he’s staring at his first playoff game and facing one of the NFL’s best defenses. They built a 17-0 lead before the Rams scored, winning 24-13 and earning what turned out to be their final Super Bowl appearance under Grant.

“I can remember we’d be playing in the playoffs and we’d get the ball back after a kickoff”, said Foreman, whose son Anthony King-Foreman was a starting defensive end on the St. Thomas team that won this season’s MIAC title and advanced to the Division III national championship game.

“The coldest part of the game is when you’re standing on the sideline not doing anything”, Jackson said. “It was a very physical game”.

So, if you plan to go to the game on Sunday, dress in layers, don’t forget your hat, perhaps opt for fewer drinks, and try to keep moving!

According to the U of M’s 2010 study, more than 100 jobs were created because of the extra home game.

It will be a different realm of cold on Sunday, and Grant – who maintains “the only people who get cold (at a game) are the fans” – makes no apologies for sitting inside.

Again, if you’re a fan who has tickets, you might want to rethink. They’ll also have to worry about the potential return of Marshawn Lynch, as the Vikings have had issues stopping big, punishing backs. “I really mean that”. They know how to give it to him and they’re going to do that. “We’ll have to have a drawing”. The Vikings will be at full strength – and it looks like the Seahawks will be too.

The self-effacing Grant assumes neither Zimmer nor Carroll will have time to talk to him this week. You play for 20 minutes, you get off the field.