Bear Digest

The gigantic advantage Tom Brady sees Sunday for Bears over Rams

It should come as no surprise the former Patriots and Buccaneers QB would detect this edge for the Bears because it's something he frequently had in the playoffs.
Gene Chamberlain|
Caleb Williams celebrates a win in the cold over the Browns.
Caleb Williams celebrates a win in the cold over the Browns. | David Banks-Imagn Images

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Chicago Bears

The Bears' cold weather advantage has been beaten to death by analysts all week and then also discounted by many as somewhat irrelevant.

Rams coach Sean McVay said weather doesn't matter from sunny California. Of course he did.

No one who played in cold weather games ever enjoyed more success during frigid conditions or snow than quarterback Tom Brady. Of course, no quarterback had more success than Brady cold or warm weather, but those snowy, windy conditions in Foxborough, Mass.

As such, Brady's thoughts on whether the Bears will enjoy a big edge are relevant.

So called "Bear weather" is real for this one as the Rams are practicing in their 70-degree weather in front of palm trees, while the Bears are denied heaters out at the practice field by Ben Johnson to toughen up. Will it affect Matthew Stafford?

"Matt did play in Detroit for a long time and in that division you did go outside to Chicago and Green Bay," Brady said during an appearance on Fox Sports' The Herd with Colin Cowherd. "It's not like he hasn't played in it, but I will say, when I went to Tampa after my time in New England, it didn't take me very long to get very soft to the cold weather and we ended up going to Green Bay in the NFC Championship Game my first year (with Tampa Bay) and very fortunately the game wasn't that cold. It was like 32, 34 degrees at kickoff. It wasn't minus-9.

"That is really cold and that's a big advantage for Chicago because Chicago has played in these conditions now for the last six weeks. It's been terrible weather in the Midwest."

The amount of impact can't be determined now but Brady is right about the weather being like a freezer.

"They played against Cleveland in the freezing cold," Brady said. "Caleb (Williams) looked like it was just like he was playing at the Coliseum in L.A. H e was firing that ball all over the field. He's a really unique player. They've got a really unique team."

Brady did say the Rams are the kind of high-powered and intelligent team that can figure a way to keep from being affected much, but the wind chill around zero or colder isn't going to favor a team with an offense based on timing. They could make alterations to their normal attack, like run more between the tackles or throw mostly outside or screens instead of downfield.

  • The cold weather started for the Bears Nov. 9 against the Giants at home, 32 with 25 wind chill home.
  • 32 with 25 wind chill home with the Giants
  • 42 with 34 degrees wind chill at Philadelphia
  • 16 with 5 degrees wind chill at Green Bay
  • 8 with -2 degrees wind chill home with Cleveland
  • 37 with 32 wind chill home with Green Bay
  • 33 with 29 wind chill home with Detroit
  • 32 with 26 wind chill home with Green Bay

The Rams had a 45-degree game at kickoff with 44-degree windchill in November at Charlotte against the Panthers. Brrrr, 44.

"A lot of it is there's a physical part to dealing with the cold," Brady told Cowherd. "The team that has the advantage is the one that practices in it all the time. And when we were in Foxborough, we practiced outdoors. We had, like, a nice indoor facility. We used to look at it all the time and be like, 'Man why don't we ever go in there?' And Bill (Belichick) would be like, 'We're outside.'

"You know? And over time you just learned how to deal with it."

The Bears have had to deal with it every day in practice be

It was Kevin Byard who this week revealed Ben Johnson wouldn't let them have heaters on the practice field.

Rome Odunze on Thursday described what happened.

"We were like, 'Man, where's the heaters at?,' " he said. "We was complaining to T-Med (equipment manager Tony Medlin) a little bit, like, 'Where's the heaters at at an there was no heaters in sight and there hasn't been any heaters in sight. So there was definitely a little bit of complaining going on at first, a little bit of uncomfortable practices, but I think we embody that."

Odunze did say Johnson softens up on game day.

"It's an advantage for us, and so it makes it harder in practice as well kind of so then we have heaters in the game a little bit on the sidelin so it allows us to experience something like that," he added.

If the weather forecast called for 35 to 40 degrees, even around freezing that's one thing. This forecast is looking more like the one for Chiefs and Dolphins in 2024 for the playoffs at -4 with -27 wind chill. The winner? They're still thawing out Mike McDaniel.

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Gene Chamberlain
GENE CHAMBERLAIN

Gene Chamberlain has covered the Chicago Bears full time as a beat writer since 1994 and prior to this on a part-time basis for 10 years. He covered the Bears as a beat writer for Suburban Chicago Newspapers, the Daily Southtown, Copley News Service and has been a contributor for the Daily Herald, the Associated Press, Bear Report, CBS Sports.com and The Sporting News. He also has worked a prep sports writer for Tribune Newspapers and Sun-Times newspapers.