BUFFALO, N.Y. — The Buffalo Bills and their fans are used to games played in cold weather.
This is especially true if the team hosts playoff games in January.
However, the severity of a snowstorm forecast to be at its peak in Orchard Park on Sunday led the NFL to reschedule the divisional playoff game vs. the Pittsburgh Steelers until Monday at 4:30 p.m.
Ironically, with the game being moved to Monday, it will now fall on the 30th anniversary of what was the coldest game ever to be played by the Bills in Orchard Park.
And, the game will be played under bitter but not quite as brutally cold conditions as there were on Jan. 15, 1994.
Brrrrrr
On that day the temperature was near zero and wind chills reached 32 below, when the Bills beat the Los Angeles Raiders 29-23 in a divisional playoff game, en route to their fourth straight (and as of today's last) Super Bowl appearance.
Although the game was a sellout, only 62,000 fans braved the cold, which at the time was about three-quarters of the capacity of Rich Stadium.
More than 60 fans were treated at a stadium first aid station that day for "cold weather injuries."
"I went duck hunting when I was a kid and had some Kmart drawers on that weren't any good and I froze to death...but other than that, today was the coldest I've ever been," said the late Kent Hull, the Bills all-pro center, during a locker room interview following the game.
"Old man winter didn't like us too much today and it was bitter," remarked linebacker Darryl Talley.
Added tight end Pete Metzelaars, "The field was frozen, but it actually wasn't in bad shape."
Bundle up on Monday
The forecast calls for temperatures to be in the teens, with wind chills dipping into the single digits during the rescheduled playoff game against the Steelers, which is set to kick off at 4:30 p.m. Monday.