The Houston Texans will be in unfamiliar territory this Saturday when they face the Kansas City Chiefs in the AFC Divisional Round.
Houston, who is used to playing indoors — and has some warm-weather rivals in the AFC South — could be competing in the third-coldest game in franchise history.
Entering the weekend, the forecast is calling for the game to be 21 degrees at kickoff. It's expected to drop down to 20 by the time the matchup concludes.
There are going to be 3 main weather changes during the next 15 days. One of them is an abundance of Arctic air. The Chiefs game occurs at the start of the Arctic air.
— Jeff Penner (@JeffPennerKSHB) January 15, 2025
Details on the next 15 days are in our updated @KSHB41 weather blog at:https://t.co/VNlzASwSjQ pic.twitter.com/AhbUWrKgRU
This isn't anything new for the Chiefs, who hosted the Miami Dolphins last year in one of the coldest games in league history. That one dropped to -4 degrees.
Texans have fared well historically in cold games
There were two games colder than this projection Houston took part in, and they walked away with a win in each.
In December of 2008, the Texans played in their coldest game ever when they visited the Green Bay Packers. That one was just 3 degrees at kickoff. Four years prior, they traveled to Chicago and played the Bears in a 12-degree game.
C.J. Stroud has not had success in the cold with Houston
Playing for Ohio State, C.J. Stroud had plenty of experience in the cold. It's different in the NFL, however, and he hasn't had much success thus far.
The sample size is small but Stroud has appeared in two games where the temp dropped below 30. The first was when they lost 34-10 to the Baltimore Ravens in the Divisional Round last season. The second was in Week 16 when the Chiefs won 27-19.
On the flip side, Patrick Mahomes is 9-1 in the past 10 games under 30 degrees. He's no stranger to this, which could wind up being a problem for the Texans.