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San Diego Chargers (9-7) at Cincinnati Bengals (11-5), 1:05 p.m. Sunday, Ch. 7, 12 (pending sellout), 700-AM, 1530-AM, 102.7-FM, 104.7-FM
When the Cincinnati Bengals face the San Diego Chargers in an AFC wild-card round playoff game Sunday at Paul Brown Stadium, it will mark the first time the teams have met in the postseason since the infamous Freezer Bowl.
With the air temperature at minus-9 degrees fahrenheit and the wind chill at minus-59, Cincinnati and San Diego met Jan. 10, 1982, in the AFC Championship Game.
The warm-weather Chargers were coming off an overtime win in balmly, humid Miami, and they were unable to deal with the frigid conditions that awaited them at Riverfront Stadium, falling 27-7.
With ESPN in its infancy and the Internet and YouTube still decades from being daily parts of people’s lives, there isn’t much footage of the game to be found. And even if there were, there weren’t that many highlights from the game.
Even ardent Bengals fans might struggle to recall who scored the touchdowns that day, as all most remember about the game were the two numbers -9 and -59.
So here is a by-the-numbers look at some other details from the second-coldest game in NFL history:
2 – Kickoffs by Cincinnati’s Jim Breech to start a half. The Bengals won the initial coin toss and decided to kick off and play defense first due to the brutal conditions. San Diego got the choice in the second half and elected to receive.
3 – Fumbles by San Diego running back Chuck Muncie. The Bengals recovered one and cashed in with a 38-yard field goal by Breech for a 20-7 lead in the third quarter.
4 – Future Hall of Famers who played in the game (Anthony Munoz for the Bengals, and Dan Fouts, Charlie Joiner and Kellen Winslow for the Chargers).
7 – Combined fumbles by both teams.
19 – Yards covered on the longest play of the game by the Bengals, a Dan Ross reception from Ken Anderson.
21 — Jersey number worn by San Diego running back James Brooks, who would get another crack at a Super Bowl — and make it — seven years later as a member of the Bengals.
20-35 – MPHs the wind was blowing throughout the game.
30.2 – Average length of the game’s five punts, which is understandable because the ball had to have felt like a rock when kicked.
37 – Length of a field-goal attempt that San Diego kicker Rolf Benirschke actually left short. Bengals radio analyst Dave Lapham said Forrest Gregg ordered stadium workers to open the gate in the south end zone prior to the kick, resulting in even more wind gusting into Benirschke’s face.
85 – Swing in degrees Fahrenheit that San Diego experienced going from 76 degrees in Miami the week before in the divisional round to -9 in the AFC championship game.
173 – Net yards passing by the Chargers. Fouts completed 15 of 28 passes for 185 yards and was sacked twice for minus-12.
175 – Net yards passing by the Bengals. Ken Anderson completed 14 of 22 passes for 161 yards, and Jack Thompson was 1 of 1 for 14 yards.
11,683 – Days that will have passed between the Freezer Bowl on Jan. 10, 1982, and Sunday’s playoff game between the Bengals and Chargers.
13,277 – Official count of no-shows listed in the NFL Game Book.
46,302 – Fans actually in attendance, which is about one-fifth of the amount of people who claim to have been here.
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