How will the extreme cold affect Bears and Rams players? A doctor weighs in

The ball will be harder to handle and the risk for injury will be higher than usual. The game might slow down, hits will hurt more and communication will be more difficult.

That's what players can look forward to in the frigid weather that's forecast for Sunday night's NFC Divisional round playoff game between the Chicago Bears and Los Angeles Rams at Soldier Field.

“Generally, it’ll be very much Bears weather,” said Gino Izzi, a senior forecaster with the National Weather Service.

Temperatures are expected to be in the teens and wind chills in the single digits. The well-below-freezing conditions have been part of NFL games for decades, but they can impact the way players' bodies function, said Dr. Robert Paras, a sports medicine specialist at RUSH Orthopedics and Sports Medicine.

Players' muscles and tendons can get stiffer, increasing the risk of a muscle pull or tear, or a joint injury, Paras said.

Players might not run as fast. Their reaction time might get slower. And their hands and feet get colder faster, too, making it more difficult — and sometimes painful — to catch or kick a ball that also gets harder in the freezing cold. Some players liken a cold football to a brick.

"When they're outside, within 10 minutes the body starts to sense that change in temperature, so the body wants to maintain it's core temperature," Paras said. "To do that, the body often constricts the blood vessels that go into our extremities.

Physical adjustments like warming up earlier, staying hydrated and constant movement can help prevent their bodies from cooling down, Paras said.

Bears players have plenty of experience playing in cold weather games, which could favor them. The coldest Bears game of the season was played Dec. 14 against the Cleveland Browns — tied for the fourth-coldest in team history with a kickoff temperature of just 8 degrees. The Bears won 31-3 against the lowly Browns.

“You talk about the Cleveland game [and] all these other cold games we been in, it's going to be nothing for us to go out there and operate in the cold weather,” Bears safety Kevin Byard said. “Now, is that going to make a huge difference for the Rams? Who knows?”

The Rams have only played in one outdoor game this season in temps under 50 degrees — an away loss to the Carolina Panthers — and none under 40 degrees.

Since 1964, the L.A. Rams are 1-6 in games as cold as what's forecast this Sunday against the Bears, according to stathead.com. Their most recent such game was in 2022 against the Green Bay Packers, a 24-12 loss. They haven't won in this type of cold since December 1989.

"As [Rams players] get colder, the feel of their hands, their grip strength, decreases," Paras said. "Whereas the Bears are more acclimated to those changes. ... If a skilled player from the Rams really has trouble holding on to that ball, it should hopefully lead to more takeaways for the Bears."

This Sunday's game likely won't be as cold as the one the Bears played against the Browns last month, but temperatures could still plummet if an arctic cold front that's expected Monday morning arrives a bit early. Snow showers are also a possibility.

“Sometimes the timing on these frontal passages can change a little bit, “ said Izzi from the National Weather Service. “Wind chills could potentially be well below zero. ...That’s not the most likely or expected scenario at this point but it’s something we’ll keep an eye on in the coming days."

No matter the weather, Bears players are confident they'll be ready.

The team has four outdoor practice fields and one indoor bubble at Halas Hall. Bears head coach Ben Johnson typically has his team practice outside to mimic the weather he’s expecting on game day.

Most teams that practice in the cold do so with a heater on the sidelines, though. Johnson does not. Players have complained to him about it all season.

“It actually might be good that we didn't have any heaters because our bodies are going to be fully acclimatized to this weather,” Byard said.

Most of the Bears roster hails from warm-weather places. Same for the Rams. Bears defensive tackle Grady Jarrett grew up in Georgia and went to Clemson University before getting drafted by the Atlanta Falcons. He played his first 10 seasons there — inside a dome for home games — before signing with the Bears in March.

It’s been easier for Jarrett to adapt to the weather by living in it than it was when the Falcons would travel to play a cold-weather team once every couple years.

“We have to go out and play regardless of the elements,” he said. “[The Rams are] going to be ready to play at their best, and we’re going to be ready to play at our best. But I do think the elements are something, through my experience, that I think living in it helps make it a little better.”

Rams players were embracing the cold temperatures, including quarterback and MVP candidate Matthew Stafford, who said he'll wear a scuba suit under his uniform to keep warm.

"Both teams are playing in it. You just go out and execute the best you can," Stafford said at a press conference this week.

“There's something to it,” he said of the spectacle of cold-weather games. “That feels right when football's outdoors, you're playing it late in the year, it's cold, it means a lot. I'm embracing it. I know our team is as well.”

Martin Hopkins, head coach of St. Rita High School's boys football team, a Chicago powerhouse, said he tells his players not to be distracted by cold weather.

“At the end of the day, you’ve got to focus on the game, the play in front of you, one play at a time,” Hopkins, 35, said. “You don’t want to be worried about things that are outside of your control, whether that’s weather or anything else when it comes to a football game.”

Hopkins, who has coached at St. Rita for three years, noted younger athletes might be impacted by bitter temperatures but gain experience playing in the conditions.

“It just takes a couple of cold games throughout their time in high school and then they’ll see how the older guys operate as well,” Hopkins said.

Hopkins recommends players rub Vaseline on their exposed skin because it helps hold in heat and raises body temperatures. But once the game starts, adrenaline goes a long way in fueling players.

“Once you get locked in on the game and what’s going on,” Hopkins said. "You kind of forget about it."

Contributing: Alden Loury