Pro Football Hall of Fame finalist and Bengals Ring of Honor member Ken Anderson heard the forecast for Sunday’s game (1 p.m.-Cincinnati’s Local 12) against the Ravens dipping to about 13 degrees and called it “balmy,” as it shapes up to be the coldest game in 25 years at Paycor Stadium.
Bengals All-Pro wide receiver Ja’Marr Chase isn’t so sure about that, since he’s still shivering from his career-cold game of 18 degrees on Christmas Eve in New England three years ago.
“It’s nice in here,” said Chase when he ducked into the interview room after Thursday’s 32-degree practice.
But Chase and Anderson are on the same page 44 years later. Calling his hands and feet “the moneymakers,” Chase says he’ll keep them warm and moving.
One of the lines on Anderson’s lengthy list of Hall of Fame credentials is that he’s the only quarterback to win a playoff game on two different planets when he led the Bengals to the AFC title in the Jan. 10, 1982 Freezer Bowl that’s the second-coldest game of all-time.
He took care of Earth the week before when the Bengals beat the Bills in the AFC Divisional at Cincinnati’s old Riverfront Stadium in 45 degrees. A week later, as a wind chill of minus-59 degrees encased Riverfront in minus-nine degrees, Anderson somehow threw two touchdowns and completed 64% of his 22 passes with no interceptions as the Bengals beat the Chargers. 27-7, to earn their first Super Bowl trip.
“Obviously, we didn’t have the equipment they have now,” Anderson says, “I had a guy wear mittens to keep them warm on the inside, and I put them on when I came off the field.”
Anderson took care of his feet by slipping on a light sock, taping a plastic bag over it, and then putting a heavy sock over that.
Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow has a lot in common with his frozen ancestor. Burrow didn’t wear gloves in New England, either, when he completed a career-high 40 passes as if it were training camp hot. Earlier this week, Burrow said the cold isn’t the real factor, but the wind is.
Which is exactly what Anderson says, and it looks like Burrow may get a break. Anderson battled winds between 20-35 miles per hour in the Freezer Bowl. Sunday’s forecast is for six to eight miles per hour.
“Early in the game, (Chargers quarterback Dan) Fouts threw a ball to the sideline, and it just fluttered,” Anderson says. “I threw a screen pass over there to (running back) Pete Johnson and it just died. (Quarterbacks and receivers coach) Lindy Infante started calling plays for the middle of the field and that really helped us.”
It looks like it’s going to be the coldest Paycor game since a nine-degree win over the Jaguars on Dec. 17, 2000, in a 17-14 game Neil Rackers won on a 27-yard walk-off field goal. The key play came on Bengals wide receiver Peter Warrick’s 82-yard punt return touchdown, where he Bobby Orr-ed down the middle of the field as his cleats turned into skates.
You can do a lot in 25 years. Jeff Brickner, the Bengals’ director of operations, is bringing 21st- century heat. Anderson and Fouts would have loved this, even though you need an engineering degree to understand the modern conveniences.
Paycor has an edge on most stadiums that need tanks to supply heat on the field. A direct gas line allows 2.75 million BTUs of heat on each sideline. And each sideline has to have the same equipment.
The fiberglass benches (each side has two) heat up to 135 degrees. There’s a torpedo heater at the ends of each bench and four space heaters in between blowing hot air like your furnace.
Plus, the field itself is heated with a Glycol system about eight inches into the ground set at 90 degrees.
