When the Houston Texans take the field on Sunday night, they'll be doing so outside of the climate controlled confines of NRG Stadium. To keep their postseason hopes healthy, the Texans will be stepping into enemy territory at Arrowhead Stadium, and to make matters even worse, they'll be doing so with weather conditions that are unfamiliar to those in the Lone Star State.
The current forecast in Kansas City is calling for temperates that will fall into the teens on Sunday night, making this crucial Sunday Night Football matchup one of the coldest games of the 2025 season. This, in theory, gives a pretty profound edge to the home team, considering the Chiefs have won no shortage of high-stakes, cold weather games during the Patrick Mahomes-Andy Reid era.
Fortunately for the Texans, it's not as if this is a roster built entirely out of players who don't have experience playing in cold weather games. Most notably, third-year quarterback CJ Stroud spent his collegiate career playing at Ohio State, and as an Ohio resident myself, I can tell you with confidence that the weather in the Buckeye State can be as unforgiving as anywhere else in the country.
For this reason, Stroud isn't too concerned with whatever the elements will present on Sunday evening.
"I think I'm still kind of used to it," CJ Stroud said of playing in cold weather, per Jared Koch of Sports Illustrated. "I mean, it wasn't that long ago to where I was playing in the cold, so I try my best to stay warm. I mean, for some guys, maybe, but I'm grateful that I went to Ohio State and played in some of the environments."
Although Stroud has some familiarity with playing in conditions like the ones the Texans will have to deal with tomorrow night, that doesn't necessarily mean there aren't built-in challenges that Houston will need to overcome.
"When you live in the cold, when you're playing it, it's not as bad. On the bench, you're fine, because, you know, the heaters," Stroud explained. "The one thing it's hard is, like, a TV timeout. Just sitting out there, is when it gets kind of colder, and the warm-ups is always hard. But, once you get past that, and you're playing, it's kind of normal. As long as it's not, like, super windy."
The good news: the wind isn't expected to be a factor at Arrowhead on Sunday night, but in fairness, a desperate Chiefs team may be a more problematic foe than an occasional wind gust would be.