Here’s How Cold Sunday Could Impact Packers-Vikings Game
GREEN BAY, Wis. – Winter is coming early to Lambeau Field, the site of Sunday’s NFC North rivalry game between the Green Bay Packers and Minnesota Vikings.
The kickoff temperature is expected to be 40 degrees. While the famed tundra won’t be frozen, it will be about 10 degrees below normal and significantly colder than it was at the start of the week.
Here’s why the weather matters: special teams.
The colder the weather, the less far the football travels. That could mean some chances for the Packers’ All-Pro returner, Keisean Nixon.
“I hope it drops at the goal line every time,” he said. “Then they’ve got to see me. Right now, don’t nobody want to see me. They’re trying to kick it as far as they can.”
For most of Green Bay’s six games, opposing kickers have been able to bomb the ball into the end zone. The result has been touchbacks or Nixon having to take the ball from deep in the end zone. In fact, Nixon hasn’t had a return since Week 4 against Detroit.
On a cold day, Nixon might get some chances for a momentum-changing return. When the Packers routed the Vikings on Jan. 1, the gametime temperature was 39 when Nixon fielded Greg Joseph’s kickoff from 5 yards deep in the end zone and raced for a 105-yard touchdown.
Keisean Nixon's touchdown changed last year's Packers-Vikings game.
Photo by Dan Powers/USA Today Sports Images
“It ain’t really been cold yet, so everybody’s trying to kick it as far as they can and out of the end zone,” Nixon said. “But the good thing about playing at Lambeau, that ain’t going to be an option. So, frustration? Yeah. But can’t do nothing about it. I just get mad about it and yell and then I’ll be good the next play.”
Special teams coordinator Rich Bisaccia, who’s had to temper Nixon’s aggressiveness because it’s too hard for his teammates to sustain their blocks when he’s coming out from 8 yards deep, thought the cold weather could mean more legitimate opportunities.
“Traditionally, as the weather gets colder, regardless of where you are, the ball doesn’t seem to travel as far,” he said. “Although, if I remember correctly, I think we hit a 56-yarder here last year in Lambeau [against the Vikings]. So, we’ll see what the game brings. The thing about gameday, whether it’s here or anywhere else, it’s really the same for both teams. We’ll both have to adjust and adapt and, hopefully, put ourselves in good position to make some plays.”
The weather, indeed, is a two-way street. The Vikings have a premier returner, as well, in Kene Nwangwu.
Last year, Nwangwu averaged 26.3 yards per return with one touchdown. In his third season, the speedster has a 28.0-yard average and three touchdowns in his career. Nwangwu opened the season on injured reserve and had a 28-yard return in his season debut on Monday.
Nwangwu provides the same juice to the Vikings as Nixon does for the Packers.
“There's always that feeling that when a ball gets kicked off and Kene catches it and does return it, there's a blocker-returner relationship there, a firm belief that it's going to go the distance,” Vikings special teams coordinator Matt Daniels said.
While it might not seem that way based on January failures against Detroit last year, San Francisco in the 2021 playoffs and Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the 2020 playoffs, the cold has been an advantage to the Packers.
Under coach Matt LaFleur, the Packers are 20-8 with a kickoff temperature of 40 or colder. Last year, they beat the Bears, Rams and Vikings during their late-season resurgence before losing to the Lions with a trip to the playoffs on the line.
Since Kirk Cousins joined the Vikings in 2018, Minnesota is 4-3 in games with a kickoff temperature of 40 or colder. That includes a 28-22 at Lambeau Field during the 2020 COVID season. Dalvin Cook scored four touchdowns on a windy, 34-degree day.
The wind should not be much of a factor for this game. With a light breeze from the northwest, the wind-chill index will be about 32.
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