After Chiefs Fans Needed Amputations After Frigid Wild Card Game, Debate Rages On Cold-Weather Games

Most NFL fans are aware of the freezing weather conditions of one of this year’s NFL Wild Card playoff games between the Kansas City Chiefs and Miami Dolphins. With temperatures at -4 degrees and wind chill making it feel approximately -20 degrees, it became the fourth coldest game in NFL history.

Despite superstar quarterback Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs defeating the Dolphins 26-7, most of the discourse surrounded the bitter cold fans of both teams suffered through during the game. And even months after the game took place, more headlines related to the cold conditions are still surfacing.

Research Medical Center said in a statement last Friday that some fans who attended the Chiefs-Dolphins game had to have parts of their body amputated, mostly fingers and toes. According to an ESPN report, the University of Kansas hospital also noted that while they treated frostbite victims, they had no amputations.

These recent revelations add on to the debate on whether games should be postponed or canceled due to frigid weather conditions. Some X users over the past few days sounded off on the NFL’s lack of properly protecting fans and players from the sub-zero temperatures during games:

It’s clear that on social media many followers of the NFL are concerned about the safety of playing and attending outdoor games in the freezing elements. However, with arctic game conditions present in so many iconic NFL games from the 2007 NFC Championship Game to the 1967 NFL Championship Game, it is hard to see the NFL shift its position on not canceling games due to cold weather.