It turns out, these Chicago Bears might be very thankful they played themselves into the NFC's no. 2 overall seed. After beating the Green Bay Packers at home in the NFC Wild Card Round, the Bears will now get to host yet another postseason tilt.
This time, though, they will be taking on the number one offense in football: Matthew Stafford, Sean McVay, Puka Nacua, Davante Adams, and the Los Angeles Rams. Leading the league in points scored and yards amassed, the Rams are as tough a matchup as it gets.
But, as fate would have it, the Bears could be looking at one of the coldest -- if not the coldest -- kickoff temperatures in franchise history.
As of right now, some weather models predict a temperature of -3 degrees around noon. As late as 6:00 PM, temps could still be sitting at just 3 degrees.
Ben Johnson all but asked for frigid temperatures in the Bears' next playoff game
During some time with the media on Monday, Johnson talked about Bears football weather and confirmed he was a fan of chilly temperatures:
“I like the cold.”
Fortunately, Matthew Stafford does not like the cold. As we've alluded to in other pieces, recently, Stafford is at his worst when he's outdoors and in colder weather. In fact, he is 1-9 in games with rain or snow, including last year's playoff loss to the Philadelphia Eagles.
This is a high-flying offense featuring some of the greatest to ever do it, but if Stafford is less than comfortable, then the Bears could have a real shot at this thing. Not to mention, Stafford won't be 100 percent healthy.
Another aspect we've touched on is the right index finger of Stafford, which was confirmed to be sprained in this past weekend's playoff victory over the Carolina Panthers. Sean McVay let reporters know of the sprain, but assured Stafford would be playing, to no one's surprise.
At this point, the Bears are just praying for some kind of added weather bonus. If there happened to be a flurry or two, Johnson likely wouldn't complain. Instead, the Bears would probably just commit even further to the run game and control the clock.
Read more: Bears’ next playoff foe is set as Dennis Allen’s toughest task yet arrives
The thing about defending an offense with two prolific threats at wide receiver and a future Hall of Fame quarterback is ... they can't hurt you when they're off the field. That'll be priority number one in Johnson's game plan, and the weather could very well help.