Throughout this week’s version of the “Let’s Go!” SiriusXM present and podcast, Los Angeles Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford insisted that he was “excited” in regards to the considered taking part in a cold-weather divisional-round playoff sport on the Chicago Bears this coming Sunday.
First-year Bears head coach Ben Johnson subsequently provided both a direct or oblique response to Stafford.
Will chilly climate give Bears a bonus over Rams?
“I just like the chilly,” Johnson mentioned, per Michael David Smith of Professional Soccer Discuss. “I do just like the chilly. …I do know this would be the coldest sport that [the Rams have] performed this 12 months. That’s one thing I acknowledged once we came upon who the opponent was. However I believe Matthew Stafford has performed effectively in chilly video games in his previous. I don’t know the way a lot of a bonus that offers you over their passing sport, essentially. There’s quite a lot of parts that go right into a sport like this.”
For the reason that opening weekend of November, the Rams have performed on the San Francisco 49ers, on the Carolina Panthers (twice), on the Arizona Cardinals, on the Seattle Seahawks and on the Atlanta Falcons. None of these video games featured the kind of climate the Rams will expertise at Chicago’s Soldier Subject.
Particularly, AccuWeather was predicting as of Wednesday afternoon that the RealFeel temperature in and round Chicago will likely be within the single digits when the Rams-Bears conflict kicks off at 6:30 p.m. ET.
How Ben Johnson beforehand ready for cold-weather video games
Stafford performed residence video games on the domed Ford Subject, residence of the Detroit Lions, from 2009 by the 2020 season. Extra just lately, Johnson served as offensive coordinator of the Lions earlier than he accepted the Chicago job final winter.
“Once I was in Detroit, you’re exterior to start out with, and it’s often fairly chilly to start out with this time of 12 months anyway, so you might apply exterior and attempt to acclimate your self as a lot as you’ll be able to. I believe that’s a superb query for [the Rams], how they really feel about that,” Johnson added throughout his feedback.
Stafford is coping with a sprained index finger on his throwing hand, coming off the Rams’ wild-card playoff win on the Panthers. One would suppose gripping chilly footballs may show to be difficult for Stafford this weekend, no matter what he does beforehand to organize for the sport.
