By utilizing home field advantage, the Seattle Seahawks had propelled themselves to consecutive NFC Championship wins. As a sixth seed in 2015, they would have to win out on the road to experience Super Bowl glory. While historically an inconsistent road team, this year’s Seahawks, after losing their first three away games, had actually won out the regular season at San Francisco, Dallas, Minnesota, Baltimore and Arizona. This playoff game was hosted at a locale the Hawks surely remembered, but not exactly how they remembered it. TCF Stadium was home to the Minnesota Vikings, the exact stadium they had played in on December 6th, save on December 6th the temperature at kickoff was 37 degrees Fahrenheit, whereas it was minus-six degrees for this January 10th matchup, making it one of the coldest playoffs games ever.
Cold weather and its effects had been a hot topic. In 2014’s playoffs, the New England Patriots had been using under-inflated footballs during a game against the Indianapolis Colts. Some argued that taking a football from room temperature to forty degrees could naturally-but-not-significantly change its air pressure. If so, then a ball at below freezing temperatures faced far greater challenges than just its inflation. The characteristics of the ball—its feel, weight, and grip—could change so dramatically that quarterbacks struggle to intuitively know how hard to throw a ball and how to put an appropriate arc on it. Likewise, receivers may not correctly anticipate how a ball will handle when caught or may find that errant passes exceed their catch radius. Players who handle snaps faced the same challenges. But, if the cold so affected the football, what it did to the field conditions was worse. Fortunately, this would present no issue during the wildcard game, as TCF had had a hydronic heated field installed prior to the Vikings moving into the facility.
