Rodgers Ready for Vikings, Old Man Winter
GREEN BAY, Wis. – How good is Aaron Rodgers in December and January?
Even Old Man Winter barely stands a chance.
In games played at Lambeau Field, Rodgers boasts a regular-season record of 26-4 with 65 touchdowns, eight interceptions and a 112.0 passer rating. One of those losses came in the 2018 finale vs. Detroit, when he suffered a concussion on the opening series.
Old Man Winter got some muscles and fangs for Christmas, and he’s eager to show them off on Sunday night. When the Packers ring in the new year against the Minnesota Vikings, the weather might be downright frightful. The forecast: A blustery high of 13 and a low of 0.
According to Pete Petoniak of Green Bay television station WLUK and Luke Sampe from Green Bay TV station WFRV, the temperature for the 7:20 p.m. kickoff will be about 7 with a wind chill around minus-10. It will only get colder as the night progresses.
“The colder, the better,” Rodgers said on Wednesday.
Games with this magnitude of cold are rare. Since Rodgers took over at quarterback in 2008, there have been only six games league-wide with a kickoff temperature of 7 or colder, according to Stathead. Three of those involved the Packers. They lost all three: home vs. Houston and at Chicago in 2008 and against San Francisco in the 2013 playoffs.
Making it a bit warmer, Rodgers is 3-3 when it’s 14 or colder. He’s won his last three starts under those circumstances: 30-27 at Chicago on Dec. 18, 2016, when it was 11 at kickoff, 38-13 over the Giants on Jan. 8, 2017, when it was 14, and 21-13 vs. Chicago on Dec. 15, 2019, when it was 11. His passer ratings in those games were 87.0, 125.2 and 78.2, respectively.
“It’s about keeping your head and your hands warm when the weather dips below 10,” Rodgers said. “I think the sweet spot where it’s not as big of a deal is probably between 32 and 10. When it gets below 10, then the ball definitely becomes a little bit slicker, but we’ve had a lot of success over the years throwing it in this type of environment. It’s about keeping your hands warm and your head warm, and then not just sitting on that heated bench for too long because the difference between being super-warm on the bench and being cold on the field is a little drastic, so you’ve got to watch that.”
Playing in the cold should be an advantage for the Packers, though perhaps not against Minnesota on Sunday. While the Vikings play their games inside U.S. Bank Stadium, they live in the elements and practice outdoors. That daily acclimatization is the why a 30-degree day in December feels like Bermuda while a 30-degree day in October feels like Antarctica.
But, as anyone who lives in a northern climate can attest, everything is more difficult when it’s cold.
“You’ve just got to block out more so the pain, deal with the dexterity,” receiver Davante Adams said. “There’s a few things that kind of creep in that physically change for you. It’s not just about the mental. It’s tougher to adjust to a ball when it’s that cold. It’s just like talking when it’s cold outside. You have trouble getting some certain words out, so imagine that’s catching a ball that’s 60 yards in the air. The last cold one we had was the Bears here in ’19. I think that was the last one other than the Bears in ’16 in Chicago. That was probably the worst one I’ve been part of. Just lock in, make the grab, deal with the pain.”
Oddly, the Packers have not been a good team when it’s been really cold. Going back to 2000, they are 1-5 in games with a kickoff temperature of 10 or less, like it figures to be on Sunday night. Their only win? It wasn’t with Rodgers. And it wasn’t with Brett Favre. It was with Matt Flynn against Atlanta in 2013, a 22-21 comeback on a 9-degree day.
Rodgers’ recent success suggests he’s adapted over the years. Despite the slick ball and limited dexterity, he says the cold is an advantage to the offense.
“For the most part, the colder it is, the slower the rush and the offense can have an advantage, especially on a field that could be slick based on the elements,” Rodgers said. “And the homefield advantage that we have with our crowd and being at home and not having to travel is a big deal. It’s all those things. The weather is a part of it. The crowd is obviously a big part of it. The footing is a part of it. If you can handle the elements like we’ve handled it for the most part over the years, I think it gives us an advantage.”
