Freezer Bowl
Riverfront Stadium, the site of the game
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| Date | January 10, 1982 | ||||||||||||||||||
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| Stadium | Riverfront Stadium, Cincinnati, Ohio | ||||||||||||||||||
| Referee | Fred Silva | ||||||||||||||||||
| Attendance | 46,302 | ||||||||||||||||||
| TV in the United States | |||||||||||||||||||
| Network | NBC | ||||||||||||||||||
| Announcers | Dick Enberg and Merlin Olsen | ||||||||||||||||||
In National Football League (NFL) lore, the Freezer Bowl was the 1981 American Football Conference (AFC) Championship Game between the San Diego Chargers and the Cincinnati Bengals. The game, won by the Bengals, 27–7, was played in the coldest temperature in NFL history in terms of wind chill. (The coldest in terms of air temperature was the Ice Bowl.) Air temperature was −9 °F (−23 °C), but the wind chill, factoring in a sustained wind of 27 miles per hour (43 km/h), was −37 °F or −38 °C (calculated as −59 °F or −51 °C using the now outdated wind chill formula in place at the time). The game was played on January 10, 1982 at Cincinnati's Riverfront Stadium, and televised by NBC, with announcers Dick Enberg and Merlin Olsen.
Despite the Bengals' dominating 40–17 win over the Chargers during the season, their meeting in the championship was expected to be a very thrilling and hard fought game. The Chargers' offense featured three future members of the Pro Football Hall of Fame: quarterback Dan Fouts, receiver Charlie Joiner and tight end Kellen Winslow. San Diego also had two superb running backs, Chuck Muncie, who led the NFL with 19 touchdowns, and multi-talented rookie James Brooks, who finished the season with 2,093 all-purpose yards. Cincinnati also had several stars on offense. Quarterback Ken Anderson (1996 and 1998 Pro Football Hall of Fame finalist) was the top rated passer in the NFL, and had won both the NFL Most Valuable Player Award and the NFL Comeback Player of the Year Award. Tight end Dan Ross, running back Pete Johnson, and rookie receiver Cris Collinsworth were widely considered to be among the best players in the NFL at their positions. The Bengals offensive line featured future Hall of Fame left tackle Anthony Muñoz, who was selected by NFL coaches as the NFL Lineman of the Year Award winner during the season.
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