This game is being dubbed "Ice Bowl II."
This is from one of their web sites from that game on Dec. 31, 1967:
------------------------------------------------------------------
Dec. 31, 1967, when the Packers hosted Dallas in the NFL championship.
At noon that day, the true temperature in Lambeau was minus-13. But a cruel hawk of north wind had driven the Real Feel temperature to between minus-30 and minus-48. It was the coldest New Year's Eve in Green Bay history.
That kind of cold is life-threatening -- four fans died of heart attacks in the stands that day and hundreds still feel the effect of the frostbite they suffered rooting for their team. Unless, of course, your coach refuses to acknowledge it.
"With Vince Lombardi, it was never cold here," said former Packers All-Pro Fuzzy Thurston, who played guard for Green Bay from 1959 to 1967. "Before games he'd just say something like, 'Men, it's a little blustery out there today.' Blustery, see? Then he'd say, 'It's our kind of day! Now get out there and strut around like it's the Fourth of July.' "
To this day, visitors stop by Lambeau Field and ask to be shown the exact spot in the south end zone where Bart Starr made the 1-yard touchdown plunge with 13 seconds remaining that gave the Pack a 21-17 win.
Thurston's many vivid memories of that game include his undying gratitude for Lombardi's gamble of running the ball on third down with no timeouts, eliminating the possibility of a tying field goal that would have extended the agony. Not that he'd have admitted it then.
"It was like I had no hands, had no feet, and oh God, the field was so hard it felt like hitting concrete," Thurston said. "But we were never allowed to use the word 'cold' around Lombardi. Cold was not in his vocabulary."
It is not a word that has been spoken a lot this week either by coaches, whether they're from warm-weather climes (San Diego's Norv Turner) or cold-weather spots (New York's Tom Coughlin).
Coughlin's message to his players has been that the weather is a factor only if they allow it. Both teams, he said, will face the same elements.
"We prefer to focus on the things that we can control," Coughlin said. "Our team is not going to … spend a lot of time talking about the weather. It is what it is. I think we will perform very well whatever the weather is."
The Giants' Manning has a quarterback rating under 60 and a completion rate under 50 percent when the temperature is 39 degrees or below, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.
Manning was unmoved by the numbers.
"I think you prepare by practicing and getting ready for their defense," he said. "You don't worry about the weather. There is no point in being concerned about it. You wear some warm clothes, and you wear a hand warmer. It is still all going to come to how your team performs on the field."
Packers QB Brett Favre has a 43-5 record when the temperature is below 34 degrees at kickoff, according to Elias.
Here's another intresting article:
http://www.sheboygan-press.com/apps/pbc ... 00555/1973
