I Love the 80s: The Freezer Bowl

eighties and seventies you ask, we provide. This episode, we look back at one of the forgotten classics, not so much for the way the game was played, but the circumstances surrounding it. The one A f C Championship game between the Cincinnati Bengals and the San Diego Chargers, better known as the Freezer Bowl, the coldest game in NFL history. Yes, the Ice Bowl was cold, the famous game with the Green Bay Packers winning over the Dallas Cowboys. However, this game,

the air temperature was minus nine degrees fahrenheit. But when you add in the wind chill factor with you with a sustained twenty seven mile an hour wind, it comes in at thirty seven or thirty eight degrees below zero. They played Chicago and winners. Growing up, Yeah in Chicago, you go to the beach on days like that, right, yeah,

no question. So minus thirty eight degrees fahrenheit was the temperature of this game, the coldest game in NFL history, factoring in wind chill January the Cincinnati Bengals in the San Diego Chargers. And this game gets lost, uh, sometimes because of what surrounded it, because the week before this, hey, how did the Chargers get to this game? Well, the game, widely regardless has the greatest game in modern NFL history, the win over the Miami Dolphins. Kellen Winslow coming off

the field carried by his teammates. We've seen that done so many different ways, the hook and ladder touchdown for the first half for the Miami Dolphins, and later on today on this day, jan U Joe Montana would throw a touchdown pass to Dwight Clark in the back of the end zone that would also be known as the catch.

So you can understand where this game got lost a little bit because you have the pageantry of one of the greatest games the week before, then you had one of the greatest games following this with one of the greatest endings. And while this game wasn't close on the field, certainly everything that goes around it, Uh, it makes it stand out. And when we talk about the Charge and the struggles they had in this game, it really stands out.

Well you look at that the other game, the Miami San Diego game forty eight, as you said, I mean it also puts Don Strock and Von Schalman you know, to the wayside. So he was a lead singer motor head, right Van Shaman, he and let me kill mmr uh their moments of training vocals now and now again. Shaman was the lead singer of Accept, the Big Band from the nineteen eighties. Yeah, that's right, that's right, training vocals supergroup as it were. But yeah, Jim Boston, sorry, go ahead, Yeah,

you get the the greatness of those games surrounding it. Uh. It takes nothing away from people, uh freezing while watching your football game or which is one of the great rites of passage as as you float through, no question about it. So this game to give you a little

background on both of these teams. The San Diego Chargers, this was the middle of their era of boy the high scoring, high flying, doing it away that we haven't seen anybody in the NFL do it this up and down the field on offense throwing the football as often as they did, and it was new and they were the only team that really did it like this in the NFL. And the question was always can you win

a Super Bowl throwing the football like this? Right? That was the bad and I mean now it's you gotta throw the football to win the Super Bowl, but back then it was can you really win throwing the football this much? Don't you need to have a power running game where you hold onto the football and thing? Can you really win by going up and down the field

with all these all this crazy wide open offense. There was a big discrepancy and big discussion about that, and the Chargers were the team that was going to render the verdict on this. If the Chargers can win the Super Bowl, it could be done. But if they can't, then you know, high flying offenses still are don't have their place in the a f L, where the Chargers came from, where they had to sell tickets and guys

throwing the football. That was one thing, But this is the National Football League and this, in retrospect was the best chance for the Chargers to prove their point and win the Super Bowl. They come into this game. Dan Fouts is all world at quarterback at this point, Charlie Joyner, Kellen Winslow, West Chandler is terrific. J Brooks who led the NFL in total yards as a rookie, Chuck Munsey led the NFL and touchdowns. I mean, they were unstoppable.

This team was so unstoppable, and maybe more importantly, they had lightning bolts on their pants, which really that's the way that was. That's the you know what, what's the old line? Uh, it's from Catch Me if you can. You know why? Why the why the Yankees have such an advantage. It's the uniforms. People just can't stop looking at the pin stripes. Well, I would wear if I could, and I like, I would wear tight pants that had lightning bolts up and down them if I could stop you.

If you have any creativity in your soul whatsoever, and a couple of bucks in your pocket, you could make this hat. Listen, I'm not going on Pinterest to try to find something. I'm just not doing it right. If I can you give me this size, I'll have them for your next fight. You can't find it on eBay. I'm not gonna go. Look, man, I'm gonna upgrade those zoobaz pants you've been wearing for the last thirty years,

and we'll get you those lightning bolts. If you want lightning bolts on your pants, man, I'll make sure that happens. I'm gonna go to the dark Web to find lightning bolts on pants. That's how I'm gonna do it. I don't think you need the dark Web. I don't think you need to open come. You might descrub your browser. I don't need to. Okay, Well all right then, well you know, challenge accepted. So for the next special teams,

you gotta tell me where that is. Then I will find them lightning bolts on pants so or otherwise I'll just custom design them. Man. Oh well, put your name in the lightning bolts. Oh see, now if you can customize, and that would be pretty cool that I'd kind of like. Alright, Uh So this was Air Correel. This is them at their at their biggest peaked on Corriel who brought this offense in with him through to the NFL and the Chargers.

Really they only were ten and six on the season, but you felt like they were always gonna win games in the final two minutes. They were, They were always up and down the field. They were fun to watch and and you always went to this game going, boy, if we don't have our a game going, they're gonna blow us out because of the way they like to play football. But I think that's one of the you meant and kind of how we look at this team in historical terms. Right, we had the fight over don

kore Yell in the Hall of Fame. Oh yeah, right, and in the end they only won of his games, right, and and not to dismiss it, he's above five hundred, great, but it wasn't dominant, right when you talk about innovation and things that are setting everybody's hair on fire. For all the yardage, for all the spreading it out with the myriad weapons you had in this offense, and some of the great names from strata matic football history, no

question about it. Where you wanted to march up and down the field, this was the team to do it. Who do you got I'm gonna be the Chargers. Questions had that won games in strata matic, not necessarily on the NFL Gridirons sixty nine and fifty six for his career with the Charges, seven and one in St. Louis before that. So that's why you always have this battle. I mean, they scored almost thirty points a game this year, twenty nine point nine four hundred seventy eight points and

they were ten and six. But could this team that throws the football and plays on the West Coast in the sunshine, could their game travel? Because that's the other part of the equation was, hey, can you play this kind of offense in the playoffs in the cold weather? Can you win games like this? Those two those are the two number one and number two things people always ask can the Chargers do it? And they were gonna

and there was no bigger challenge than this. You're talking about the coldest game in the history of the NFL. Congratulations Chargers. This is what you have to do in Cincinnati to get to the super Bowl. And oh, by the way, the Bengals, this is the year they put it all together. This was a really, really solid team, right. Dan Ross was a terrific tight end. Chris Collinsworth was a rookie. You could already tell he was going to be a star. And it's fun. I forgot how Collinsworth

used to when he would line up. He used to just before the ball was snapped, he used to flail his arms back and forth. You always know it was him. He used to do that all the time, you know, for getting fed about guys with no motion. He would always do that as as as he would get ready for the snap. So that was always fun. But they had Pete Johnson who ran for a thousand yards and sixteen touchdowns. Anthony Monios is the greatest offensive lineman of

all time. They really put it all together. Forest greg was the head coach who, oh, by the way, played in the Ice Bowl, so he had the unfortunate experience of having to play in the two Colden's games in NFL history. But it's funny. Forest Greg, though, is a guy that I always associated as the Packers coach right right exactly, even though he had more years in Cincinnati. To me, he was always the Packers coach, just me. With all of this going on, the head of the

snake of this team was quarterback Kenny Anderson. And there was no more shocking ascent than Kenny Anderson. This year in the NFL. He was the top rated passer in the league. He was the m v P. He was the come from behind are the comeback player of the year. He had always been a good, solid quarterback into the Pro Bowl a couple of times. Cincinnati was decent in the early nineteen seventies, early to mid nineteen seventy Cincinnati won a few games at playoff games. They had three

ten win seasons, and then they were terrible. And when they were terrible, Anderson was terrible. I can't believe he stayed with them. I can't believe they kept him as a quarterback. He was awful in nineteen eighty awful, nine ten touchdowns, twenty two picks. He was how do you stay there quiet that point, he'd been in the legal while. How do you not say, okay, maybe time for a change in quarterback? And then he got all the way

to the nineteen six I know, and he played. I mean it was unbelievable, like he had Like I get it. You have a couple of good years while you young, so you get the benefit of the data as you get older, but usually that's as a backup. And you know, this is where, Nope, he's still gonna be. Our starters are are you kidding me? And then in one he throws twenty nine touchdowns thirty eight hundred yards, all career highs. He never approached those numbers before that year or after

that year. It's like he was efficient the following two years. Like if this was the two seventy one percent completion, if he was a baseball player, you would say, oh, that's the year that they were banging the trash can. And he knew exactly what was going on. He knew, he knew what the play was, he knew what kind of defense they were in because they banged the trash can like for the Astros. But that that was the

meteoric rise of Kenny Anderson. If his if his career was a grand it would be flat flight flat flave, flat up, a little bit flat five, flat up, a litt bit flaight flight flight flight flat down, down, down, down, down, straight, all the way up to the top, straight, all the way down the bottom flat flight flight flight flight flight flat. That's Anderson. Yeah, that's the guy. That's the rumor that

you got the big innovation that everybody's looking for. So the stock pops and then you failed to meet earnings the next quarter. Uh, and you go right back up the charts. Twenty nine touchdowns in eight one for his career. He was there from seventy one to eighty six, amazing. He grew more than twenty touchdowns once one one other time back in nineteen seventy five, nineteen, the year after, and that eleven, ten, sixteen, And he played most most years.

He played in almost all games. So it wasn't like he was down in the you know, Jim McMahon era and guys like that that were contemporaries where you were gonna miss a bunch of games along the way. No, he played, uh and just didn't excel. How's that for being kind? No, that was good. You played and didn't excel. Thank you. I appreciate that. Just go out there. It's like Jennifer Anderston, Hey, we're gonna give you another script

for romantic comedy. Is it gonna be good? It's gonna stink? Okay, Well, we'll keep giving him to you. You lead Jennifer Anderston alone, she's an American treasure. Did she go to Northwestern? No? Okay, okay, So I I have no tie to her other than just um my love of her. That's nice night. Thanks, for that and we had that water that was the billboard right by our exit for work for a while, so when I get stopped at that light, I could smile.

So fortunately that sets the table completely for the Freezer Bowl. What happened next and what happened to the players following this game, coldest game in NFL history, the Freezer Bowl? Why did the Chargers have so many problems? We'll tell you coming up next January, Cincinnati Riverfront Stadium. Dick Enberg and Merlin Olson on the call. Minus nine degrees minus thirty eight degrees when you factor in the windshill factor.

The Freezer Bowl, the coldest game in NFL history, was set to kick off, and the players knew right away this was gonna be unlike any game they ever played. Hank Bower, who had gone out for the Chargers to warm up before game, do a bit of running and come back in, actually told his teammates when he came back in, guys, listen, um, whatever layers you're wearing, take them off, because they're just gonna slow you down and it's not gonna help anyway, because it's just that cold out.

And you can mentioned Merlin Olson, I mean father Murphy up in the booth, praying for some sunshine if it's warm, and it did he did, there was. The sun did peek in and out at times in the game, but it still didn't matter. It's not like it went from hey, minus thirty eight, now it's fifty degrees. No, it's minus thirty eight. Now it's minus thirty six and a half degrees. Uh. Both teams had trouble and both teams were were were

intimidated by the cold. But you could tell there was one team there's a little bit more ready for it. It was Cincinnati. One team that was not, and that's the Chargers. Kenny Anderson, after in between every play, would put his hands right down his pants right where where's the warmest part of your body, right in the growing areas. That's where I'm gonna put my hands to warm up

between every play, found advice. Fouts was wearing a white sweatshirt under his jersey and after every play he would pull the cuffs over his hands to keep him warm. He he had a tough time holding onto the football the entire game. And you're gonna see a big pattern with Dan Fouts and why the Charges weren't able to get to the Super Bowl and win. This game is really about Dan Fouts and a lack of planning. But right away you knew that Dan facts this was not

going to be his day, all right. The first pass of the game, he threw He's got Kellen Winslow wide open in the flat it. Winslow is gonna catch it five yards and run for another ten yards in the first down, and Fouts there's nobody between him and he throws the ball and it flutters ten feet over Winslow's head into the sideline. Winslow barely jumps because he's not gonna catch it. And from that moment, uh, he maybe backed away from the TV and said, oh, Dan Fouts

is gonna struggle. His third pass of the game, he tries to throw it up twenty yards down field, it flutters out of his hand, comes down, and it should have been picked off because there's two dbs there, but they wind the ball winds up going to the ground. And this was kind of the day for Fouts. It was so much that he had trouble throwing the football as much as it was gripping it, because the ball should never have fluttered the way it did coming out

of his hand. In fact, even said after the game, I can't believe Kenny Anderson was able to throw spirals during the game. I couldn't throw them at all. But I have a big check mark in the column for warm weather team that likes to throw the football coming into the cold and can't do it. Check mark. That was the San Diego Chargers. Yeah, on that first play, you just see the ball flutter and start to rise Winslow as you described it, a little bit of a jump and the mean mug. Look he game Dan Fouts

on that play right off the jump. All right, we're gonna have fun for the next two and a half to three hours because you already have a little bit of malcontentedness from your white house. And so you're trying to throw short and you're praying for yak you're playing, you're praying for the slip tackle and you know, the the big play that comes off a short pass that

never comes. And that's the thing. When Fouts would throw short, when he would try to throw ten to twelve yards past the line of scrimmage, they did well because the Chargers moved the ball the whole day. It's not like, oh, every game with every every series was three downs upon they moved the ball well, but when they tried to go for chunk yardage, they either turned the ball over fouts,

couldn't throw the football deep. It was incomplete. They would make a mistake mistakes and not being able to go down field killed the Chargers and they never adjusted. You think at halftime after a half of not throwing the football, well, they would say, all right, here's what we gotta do. We gotta go down ten yards at a time. But or or we gotta take what we can get from this defense, because clearly every time we try to get greedy and throw the ball downfield, we couldn't do it right.

And this was the first half to a t for the Chargers. All right, the Bengals do a smart thing and the opening kickoff, they decided to take the wind at their backs in the first and third quarter because they want to put doubt in San Diego's mind. They want to get off to a fast start because San Diego's team, you can pile up a lot of points if we can make them have a scoreless first order, not be able to control the game. We put doubt in their minds. Maybe we get a score or two,

we can control the game. And that turned out to be the best decision because normally, when you're choosing the wind, you wanted second and fourth quarter, but they chose first and third quarter because they wanted to get off to a big start, and it happened. James Brooks had a fumble after Cincinnati kicked the field goal, Anderson throws a touchdown past M. L. Harris. It's ten nothing Cincinnati in

the first quarter. It's cold for both teams, but still Cincinnati was a little bit better being able to move down the field. And we get to the second quarter and it's ten nothing Bengals and you're wondering, is San Diego gonna get back in this or are they just gonna just fall over for the rest of the day. Well, and we know that the hits hurt a little bit more growing up in Chicago play football you were in

New York. Right, If you're down a little bit and things aren't clicking, the the extra blow, it's gonna hurt a little more when it's cold and you're already miserable, and so that that want to sometimes gets beaten out of you pretty fast. And it's not that you're getting obliterated because I mean they're not getting blown out by any stretch. It's just more of the function of you know, you're not seeing that chunk yardage that you're normally gonna

gonna use. And the rub routes were years from being really used effectively. Uh, think about the Chargers if they implemented some of that take that COREEL needed ground COREEL instead of aircraft. Now, two things, at least you know some some more. I think creativity on the I don't I don't work the intermediate all about those halftime adjustments, Jason, I mean, that's really what it's all about. Two big

things for San Diego. In the first quarter, they get in position to kick a field goal and Ralph Bernershka, who was one of the better kickers in the NFL, uh comes out to kick. Look, he was a big hero and bernursca you know the week before when but when you're kicking in Miami's eighty eight degrees, hey, it's a little bit different. His thirty seven yard field goal gets about three feet off the ground and doesn't even

reach the end zone. His ball had no chance and you can tell already in his head is I don't know that I can kick this ball today. I I really don't know. Now it's into the stiff wind in the first quarter, but I don't know that I can do it. Dan Fouts also makes an incredibly bad play another chance that san Diego has, because like I said, they drove the ball downfield. He tries to get greedy and he throws a jump ball into the end zone.

That's a flutterball that gets picked off by Cincinnati and and San Diego walks off the field and you're saying, what the hell kind of throw is that? And it was a throw to the quarterback if he makes that. Now he sits on the bench because I'm throwing it up into the end zone and there's two defensive backs there and one of my guys, and this is this

is a smart play. And instead of getting a chance to get more points, this was one of the first examples of here's Dan Fouts, here's the Chargers getting too greedy making a bad throw instead of trying to get down the field in a little bit different way. And so instead of being in the game, you're staring at attend nothing deficit and boy, it looks like a lot of points. Stop talking about Jake Cutler. I thought we were talking about the charge. Oh look at you. Wow, Hey,

you know you talked about the last podcast. Jake Cutler is the most underrated, maybe the best quarterback I love and now you're just ripping Jay Cutler. No, I love Jake Cutler, but there were times where there was no conscience. I'm putting it. What should I said, Ryan Fitzpatrick. Maybe expectations are low. That guy's the biggest winner in football history for the longevity of the career that he's had and his ability to show off his kids math skills.

Jay Cutler is a guy that people will take the digs. I just took the easy one for everybody that was thinking it as you're speaking. I I wear my jersey all the time, not quite not quite a T shirt? You do, I will? I do wear that jersey all the time. You never wear the jersey and the purple shorts at the same time, though, I mean dark bluin right, Yeah? No,

dark blue and purple don't go together, is no? I mean that that's one if I'm hold up, you know in my lonely writer's Garrett where nobody sees me so at this point I'm think Cincinnati knows when Fouts tries to throw the football deep, he's not gonna be able to do it, and we're gonna be able to jump in front of passes, and we know we can't get

him down field. But the big lightning strike, quick moment that the Chargers had, really the only one of the day, actually comes in the second quarter when they cut the score to ten seven. Now, the wind is at San Diego's back and they're touchdown of the day. They only

scored one scored seven points. Dan Fouts. It looks like it's gonna be some kind of bootleg play, but what it really is is a play to free up Kellen Winslow on a tight end screen, and Fouts turns around almost directly into one of the Cincinnati Bengals defensive lineman. He just throws it blindly to where Winslow is supposedly going to be standing, hoping he's gonna catch it. Winslow catches it, and he rumbles down the sideline for a

thirty three yard touchdown. This cuts the score to ten seven. Now, before we get further a little bit about Kellen Winslow, we know the kind of player he was the Hall of Fame player you see highlights, but watching this game and specifically this play, he's someone who is so physically dominant and apparent you know where he is every mobile he's on the screen because he's so much bigger than everybody else. And this guy is a tight end and he he wasn't he wasn't skinny. He looked like a

man playing against boys. Because this touchdown, when he catches the ball and runs, it's like one of those video games where you catch it and you're running and other player comes up to try to tackle you and you hit the stiff arm button and you knocked them down, you know, or like one of those touchdowns for one of those football movies where the really big team with all the big kids just blocks everybody out and the guy pushes everybody out of the way and gets to

the end zone, I mean early in the game, before the big ragtag come back at the end and some kind of crazy thing happens. But that's what Kellen Winslow is like. So you just watch a few plays from this game, and it's easy to see why this guy was so dominant, why he was so good. He just looks like he's on a different level physically and in control of his body attically than anybody else on the field. It really was something to see. Well, Hall of Famer and why when his kid made the the NFL, the

expectations were huge for him. And we know where things have gone sideways, uh through the years. But you know what, we watched these teams. You go back and you think of what receivers look like today, right, A bigger, stronger, faster, I mean, he was that prototype thirty years ago, right, and and would have fit right in to the way we run offenses now. Uh, and the big passing attacks. So yeah, you're you're just seeing that size differential, the

ability to create space. All of that led to such a huge career. And again here you're you're trying to get just that separation, but you can't get the big play and the big pop and and mentioned the career

record of Coreyell and everything else. Just's just how did with all this talent they never got over And I know our our show producer, Justin Frostberg as he listens to us Curson uh for for not you know, extolling all the virtues of the Chargers fun to watch, and then in big moments, just no matter how much talent you had, couldn't get over. At this point, the Chargers, okay, maybe we're back into it. Fouts. Everybody jumps on the field to congratulate him after this touchdown, and maybe this

is their moment. Okay, they broke through the touchdown. The game is ten seven. Now we got Now we got something going on. Except that was it. Cincinnati dominates from that moment out. They drive right back down the field. Pete Johnson scores a touchdown to make it seventeen seven. Dan Fouts drives the Charges back down the field and again he throws a long wobbler to Charlie Joyner that's picked off by Cincinnati. And this is what I mean when I say that he couldn't grip the football, because

this is what the wind at his back. He shouldn't be throwing a flutterball in the second quarter, but he escapes from the pressure and he just throws up in the ball just goes straight up in the air. You can tell the cin C DBS is saying he can't throw it that far. And it's not like he's trying to make a sixty yard throw. This is like a yard throw and Joiners kind of running downfield, going where's

the ball? The Cincinnati dB stopped because they see it fluttering, and it's an easy pick at the five yard line for the Bengals. Another big chance that goes out the window for San Diego, and the combination of the weather and the turnovers and things are just going really horribly for the Chargers. And the other thing to notice about Fouts is this is that, as good as he was, Dan Fouts had the worst footwork of any quarterback I've ever seen. He would just take those little baby steps

to drop back and pass. Sometimes he would take ten step drops. Sometimes there'd be eight, sometimes they'd be fifteen. And so it's really it's really hard to be able to to throw the football with the effort and and and the zip you need on every play when you're not really talking about the timing of Okay, this is

seven steps and I'm throwing it. Granted it wasn't that wasn't all the way back in the time back then this is what quarterbacks did, but still a lot of it was three five seven step drops and and and if you even longer drop than that, okay, but wow, you really need to drop back ten yards to throw the football, and his footwork was so bad that he

couldn't overcome the other things. Because sometimes quarterbacks footworks can save them when it comes to throwing a deep out or throwing a slant or throwing the ball down field. But found his footwork was so is that these baby steps all over the places. His body was never all the time facing one way or the other. You know,

you you don't have momentum. And it's easy to see in this game why this was able to come back and hurt him and why the Charges don't go to the super Bowl just watching the the drop bags waiting for things to develop. You know, the interior lineman really had their work cut out for him, uh in this one, because the rush was coming up the gut and Fouch

wasn't a guy getting to the outside extending plays. So the baby step drop backs, so trying to stop that motion and then put your full body into the throws. You know you're short arming some of it or relying fully on your arm strength and coming up short. And a Hall of Fame career, big big number and all that we've talked about as to what this offense did. But you know, in big moments, big games, game plan against them in here. No confidence against the wind either.

That that's the other thing that comes in. Even with the wind at his back, didn't seem that happen. Like I said, Thrust, I don't think he could hold the football really well. And it's not like the Bengals were baby hands like you hands. It's not like the Bengals were playing great. I mean the Bengals were just playing good enough. They were capitalizing on the Chargers mistakes, which

were many. And you know, that's what the third quarter looked like, because in the third quarter San Diego did to just they still tried to get down the field the same way a couple of running players throw the ball and then they would try to throw the ball deep and it wouldn't work. Uh, they could have used Brooks and then gotten down the field of Brooks and Munsey.

They could have done that all day. They were they were they were running the ball well enough, and they were throwing the ball tended twelve yards down the field well enough. It's not like Fouts was ten for forty live on the day. He actually had a pretty and an okay completion percentage. But they just couldn't. They just couldn't get a right mix of how to get the ball downfield. Here's a perfect example, their first drive of

the game, of the second of the of the second half. Alright, seventeen seven, let's get out there and get and get a score. Uh, getting down the field. First drive, their inside Cincinnati's forty yard line, Chuck Munsey just has the ball popped out and it's one of those clear, uh fundamental tackles where the helmet goes on the football and because it's so cold, it's very difficult. The ball pops out,

Cincinnati recovers, they turn that into a field goal. The next big chance the Chargers have for points, big third down play from the twenty yard line. Dan Fouts dropping back kind of locks shoes with Doug Wilkerson. One of his offensive lineman falls down eleven yards behind the line of scrimmage. So it's a field goal for Bernarska, who again misses horribly, doesn't reach the goal line again. And that's it. I mean, at that point you throw your

arms up and say that's it. They got one more touchdown on the day that the Bengals did in the fourth quarter. That really cemented the game, Anderson throws a touchdown to Don Bass and seven is your final. The Bengals go on and the Chargers go back to what just happened to us in the cold? We could never figure it out? And now the Bengals are going to

the super Bowl. When you build a team, you know you got eight at home, and you're playing in beautiful, sunny San Diego, right, the most beautiful, best city in the world by some of those magazines that rate all those different aspects. But you've got to account for the fact that eight of your games aren't played in San Diego, and then certainly in the playoffs, all bets are off.

But you're built for one style of play man. How many times do we watch it from the college perspective of all right, you play in this conference and I'll take my beloved Big Ten for instance, or for all those years it was rough and tumble, right three yards in a cloud of dust, and then you go play some high flying SEC team in a bowl game, by the way, that's still have and they just got track

athletes that are running circles around you. I mean, I think back to Northwestern playing USC right, played very well in in the Big Ten, Conference, they beat Notre name all of these things, the Miracle of the Purple to Pasadena, and then I watched Keyshawn Johnson make all the defense and backs, and everybody just looked like they were standing still. Granted, no Pat Fitzgerald in that game because he'd been injured. But I don't I don't think even Moses himself. Uh,

Charlton Heston, Oh, I thought you been Moses. Well, Charlton Heston, Northwestern grad would have been able to close up that red Sea Hill. Moses former actor of the seventies and eighties and the nighttime soap operas. That's nice, nicely done. I think I'm out of guys whose last name is Moses, Haven, Moses, Billy, Moses. Well, we can bring in Moses Moreno. Yeah, but that's that's his first name. There's a lot of first names Moses. Yeah. But I was going to try to go the last

name Moses. I tried, you know, I just thought I'd try to keep the game going. But it's just that idea of you. You build your team to play one style and then unfortunately some signs, the styles and the elements don't work in your favor. Fouts's day was fifteen out of twenty eight for a hundred and eighty five yards, the touchdown to Winslow and the two interceptions that I told you about. They had four turnovers overall, which killed them. Chuck Munsey had three fumbles uh and James Brooks had

a fumble as well. Not all of them lost obviously, but Muncey ran for a hundred yards. He still got eight yards receiving from West Chandler. They limited Kellen Winslow. That was really the only play he had all day. He only caught three passes total, and Charlie Joyner didn't affect the team nothing they did on offense. They were able to sustain enough to win. Meanwhile, for the Bengals, Kenny Anderson and efficient day fourteen out of twenty two

for one sixty one and two touchdowns. It worked. Pete Johnson ran for eight yards and a touchdown and that's kind of all you needed, you know. Colins Worth only caught a couple of asses, didn't matter. They were able to finish their chances when they had them, while the Chargers fumbled through picks, couldn't get accustomed to the cold. And this is how the Bengals wind up in the Super Bowl against the San Francisco forty Niners. But what was next for these teams coming off of the coldest

game ever. Well, it's a big deal both physically mentally, and a huge train between these teams in later years. That's coming up next right here on special Teams. The aftermath of the Freezer Bowl, Well, let's just say that players are still feeling the effects of it today. Kenny Anderson said his right hand has never been the same since that day, and any time he gets really cold, he has a trouble feeling it. It's it's never been the same. Other players say the same thing about parts

of their bodies. Kellen Winslow said one of his feet has never been the same following that game. It was was it frostbite? Was it some kind of of damage you did to your body? Because it was just that cold. You have to think that was it. After that day, anytime it gets cold, you see what happens to the parts of your body. You got Anderson, you had Winslow. A couple of the players said the same thing. Even

the referees had a difficult time in this game. They kept going to the dryers on the sideline you know those big things. They used to have to pump out hot air to keep players warming on the sideicle of when it was cold games. So the referees, when they had a chance, they would run and stand right in front of those dryers. Now it's right, it's not two thousand twenties, so technology of hot dryers blowing out air isn't the best. And there were sparks that were coming

out of the dryer once in a while. And a couple of referees at the end of the game, you know, when they were in the referee room changing, they looked at each other's close and go, hey, dude, your your shirt is burnt. Hey, your pants are burnt. Because they got so close that their clothes got burnt. But it was so cold they didn't feel it. They had they had the parts in their what they were wearing burned,

and they didn't feel because it was still so called out. Well, it's like Cramer when he was putting his uh clothes in the pizza oven. Uh it burned him up. I mean, what are you gonna do? What do I know about cooking a shirt? But you know, we talked to Mike Pereira about this on our evening show on Fox Sports Radio every season about dealing with the elements and the different referees, because you're starting to take age into consideration, right, how many guys have been through the wars and and

and where they're at physically. It's a it's a question that you ask in twenty going forward. Uh, you know, dealing with COVID nineteen as well, the precautions taken for referees, just like we're looking at players, coaches, and staff, but also for the elements, you know, keeping warm. You know, this was a couple of years before ISOTNA gloves too,

before Dan Marino started doing holiday commercials to give those out. So, I mean, I don't know what the glove technology was in nine in terms of being able to grip a football and do all those things. So we look at you know, simple technological games they're as well, but yeah, trying to get warm on the sidelines a much different animal thirty years later. Even the players at the end of the game, we're telling that the officials seven seven, they're going, dude, come on, just end the game. It's

so bleep and cold. Just end the game. Just the game, Just end the game. It really was you see the fans in the stands. I don't know how they made it through the games, you know, by the way, just just was really funny. But well that that helps as well. What are you for it? Because you know there were home fans watching to win? You know, watch this game because you can see a replay of it on YouTube if you if you want to see it, and in and in going back and looking at some of the plays.

Here the number of w l W banners that were up in Riverfront stated which was the Bengals radio network. I mean, it was amazing nowadays how many there was at least ten to fifteen w LW banners up that they showed in between plays and when big things are going on, here's banners up. We love winning and you know the Bengals colors. I'm like, you never see that now, like you know, the the Jets radio network. The people don't go seven we're gonna beat the Patriots seven. Today

you don't see that. But back then that's all that want WW Like I I think, if I want to remember, right, there was I don't know if it was an urban legend or an urban myth back then, but that if you did a banner or held a sign at a baseball game or a football game, or a basketball game, hockey games, and you held the sign up, and it was about one of the broadcasters that the chances are you could get on television or and they would see it,

because it's about when it's hey, it's a commercial for us, right, we're showing an ad for our radio station or TV station. So it's always hey, if you do it, you'll be able to get on TV. So maybe that's what they were thinking. But I'm like, boy, that's a lot of WW posters out there, and he's trying to get a little bit of run, right, a little bit of extra FaceTime,

and everybody's trying to get themselves on. Were watching cardboard cutouts of people uh in the crowds of surprise, they're not holding up banners, flags, or other things with a corporate or personal message uh to you. So yeah, that curious as I watched the the replay as well of all of that signage in a stadium different times though, right from the national Games and what it met, the magnification of it now, the way we look at the televising of games and standardizing, I think to some degree,

as well. I mean I just remember growing up, you know what, I'd rush home from school for Cubs broadcast White Sox fans south side of town. But hey, day baseball was day baseball. But watching that type of scenario, Uh, you had one producer whose obvious I was to look for the tourists that had come to Chicago, uh and enjoyed themselves in the bleachers. Nowadays, you're probably not getting away with some of the visuals that you get a nice long looks like don't put the camera back on

the booth as they introduced the new inning. Nope, keeping it on the ladies uh, in in the crowd, particularly the bleacher creatures. Uh. And then certainly Harry Carey would have the not too well whomever they found, uh and usually holding up a banner or something, you know, showing love to the broadcast booths. So that was the other way to get on TV. To Jason Gamman, you know,

it's it's a tailor as old as time. So what happened for these teams following well, they would actually get back together a couple of years later in a much different way. The Bengals go to the Super Bowl. They lose to the fort is the first of Montana's championships.

And meanwhile, the Chargers stay the Chargers air correel, throw the football up and down the field, and then right before the season, what many Bengals fans will tell you was the greatest trade in franchise history happened, and what many Chargers fans would tell you was, what the hell were we doing so prior to the Phelps uh all, my Ken Phelps best at that ratio. Ever, Pete Johnson, then of the Bengals, one a new contract from Cincinnati. He had been a really good running back for the

past few years for the Bengals. We talked about him in this game too. He had a touchdown. He was threatening to go to the USFL if he didn't get a new contract, so he had kind of had it with the Bengals. He's a thirty year old running back. Meanwhile, the Chargers, things weren't going swimming lee for them with James Brooks, even though the first two years in the league he led the NFL and all purpose yardage, but for some reason it wasn't clicking and they decide, let's

make a trade. So the Chargers trade the twenty five year old James Brooks for the thirty year old Pete Johnson, who, by the way, is coming off a four game suspension for cocaine usage. Uh so, I can't believe that this this is the trade. You got a thirty year old running back that wants a new contract, that's coming off a cocaine suspension, and the Chargers say, we're gonna give you one of the best all around players in the game who was twenty five years old. It doesn't make sense,

but this is the trade that happened. How did the trade go from then on? Oh? My goodness. For James Brooks, he goes on and he becomes a Pro Bowl player. For many years, Brooks was fantastic. He played eight seasons in Cincinnati, and he was the same player he was with the San Diego Chargers, up amongst the league leaders

all around yardage every single year. He was it. Suddenly, James Brooks is putting air into the tires of the Cincinnati Bengals, who, by the way, he helps them get back to the Super Bowl a few years later when he's at the end of his prime. Meanwhile, for Pete Johnson, he plays three games with the Chargers, not three seasons. Not three games for the Chargers, and then they got rid of him. He went and played the final thirteen games of the season with the Miami Dolphins and he

retired after that. You want to look back at the annals of bad trades, worst trades ever. We talk a lot about baseball trades and what happened and with with teams and and you know, John Smaul, Doyle, Alexander or whatever trade want to talk about. But James Brooks for Pete Johnson NFL, that's up at the top. Well, don't forget. James Brooks also went on to create the Simpsons. That's true. That's true. Well, well he had to change his name to James L. Brooks then, but but he added the L.

We had to bring in the middle initial. Uh, we're just kidding folks on case you didn't recognize just the brand of humor. But yeah, that that's gotta be about it as bad as it goes, especially for a franchise that would then become well they become one of the laughing stocks. Unfortunately, two teams in Ohio carried that banner for a lot of years, and your Jets, uh sorry for years, but for the for the Bangles, and and for the Chargers here this is this is where you're at.

The Bengals actually get over on one uh for one time, and Charger fans are still looking for that elusive Super Bowl. James Brooks made the Pro Bowl with the Cincinnati Bengals four times after the trade. Four times he ran for a thousand yards three times still caught a lot of yards passing. This is back when running backs catching three to four hundred yards and passes was a lot. You know,

this isn't Oh my goodness, he's at thousand yards. Say now, this is when catching thirty to forty passes a year was a very big deal. And James Brooks was that good a player. He stayed with the team through and even in his final year when he's thirty three years old, he ran for almost six hundred yards and a couple of touchdowns. He caught three fifty yards and passes. So when he was at the end, the guy was productive.

And some of his big years with Cincinnati when he was thirty and thirty one years old, twelve hundred yards rushing, three hundred yards receiving. He was a star all the way through the rest of the eighties, and I know, the Chargers weren't winning the Super Bowl with him, but boy, you get five and this guy becomes the lynch pinner of your offense. Maybe you actually win one, maybe you win one before Dan Fouts retires, but never got the

chance because this trade was made. And still you scratch and and go, boyfriend, at least one moment in time, the Bengals got over on another team. Yeah, I know that hasn't happened much in the history. And we'll see what happens in this this new world order with a a new gun slinger brought to the team here in and Joe Burrow. But you know, when when you look at the Chargers, just a lot of what ifs. There's been some great talents, uh that have come through that

organization and little pieces that are missing. Right, we talked about this particular season with with Dan Fouts. Well, they got beat up by the Bengals earlier in the season, right, so he couldn't solve them in at home and he and he gets blown out on the road. Uh. So you have those kind of issues and you have the high flying attack, and it's it's always hard when things

seem to be working. It's like all right, we're almost there, but being able to pull the plug because we normally see it the other way in sports, Right, where's the You don't get nearly enough time to work? And I mean that's certainly been one of the hallmarks of the Bengals organization outside of Marvin Lewis's run. Is all right, let's flip. That's the Browns, that's the Jets, that's a number of NFL teams of all right, it's been two years. We're not seeing the progress we want. Flip the coach,

Flip the GM quarterback. I'll get one more year. By the way, it's his fourth offensive coordinator. Uh, and let's keep flipping, because you always gotta have a fall guy here. He ran with the high flying offense as much as you could, but this was their their best shot. So how about somewhere are they now from this game? Mr? Harmon, what do you got for us? Oh? We got a couple of good ones here, Willie Buchanan, Uh, doing virtual office systems. He was ahead of the game before we

got to COVID nineteen and working remotely. Also some real estate work. You got Lynden King thirteen years in the league US. He was actually became a singer of a country after he finished the linebacker for many years in the National Football League. It was Wing and the Southern Steel.

That's pretty good name. I like that. That's pretty good. Uh. And then they were down in uh, down in Tennessee, down in Nashville for a while West Chandler Uh, founder of w c t E w U c t E, but working on bio pharmaceuticals to help with CTE traumatic brain injuries. Uh et Centro. Uh. And then I got to two big ones for you to finish. Uh. We've got always Pat Pat Mcinally, you gotta show him love

because in this broadcast they brought up his Wonderlick test. Then, oh, of course, because you can't bring up the wonder you can't bring up Pat mc and I without saying only player to get a perfect score in the Wonder. There's a little bit in the telecast where you get that. But the key is also he brought us the starting lineup action figures, his brain child. So they sold an

estimated seven hundred million dollars worth of starting lineups. I still have a Frank Thomas and I'm Michael Jordan's sitting around here somewhere and at one point I had Wade Bobs. Wow. Beyond that, Uh, he's got a played college uh foundation that is trying to help economically challenge kids. Uh. They help with test preparations. So the A C T and S A T. So, so you certainly got that. And then I wanted to finish with one that is really

big in the sporting year. Reggie Williams, linebacker. Fourteen years in the league. He became the executive director of what became the Walt Disney world Wide World. So he was the first black vice president for Walt Disney World Sports Recreation. Given the ability to create a vision of what that space has become, and if it weren't for him, the NBA season wouldn't have finished. You know, we have been no bubble. I came up with the bubble. Oh that

was yeah, that was me. I was the bubble. But that whole thing, right, setting up the the fields and having that for the Braves for their you know, training, and having all of those courts and fields for different youth tournaments, all of that was part of his brain child. He retired from Walt Disney World back in two thousand seven, but it was his work and in researching for the podcast, you know, you come up with some fun stories. Some

you know, you see players take tragic turns. We've certainly talked about a number of those throughout our run here on Special Teams and certainly on our show on Fox Sports Radio. But occasionally you run into all right, let's do somewhere are they now? And you know that guys have gone on to success, But here you have one that you know, hopefully he gets a couple of more nods. He certainly got some here for having this this base and vision to create that Disney Worldwide World of Sports complex.

But in the bubble, I think I think they should probably pay a little more attention. Hey, let's go back to the architects of this uh and make sure they get their just do so there is your complete look in the Freezer Ball, the Chargers fall to the Bengals twenty seven to seven, and in the process the jury still out on can a warm weather team throw the football up and down the field and win the Super Bowl.

It would be years until you figured out, all right, a team could do that without having to run it while being so electric. The Charger's best chance to get to the Super Bowl in those legendary air Corial Teams was this day and it was the Cincinnati Bengals who came out on top. You want to hit us up for future Special Teams episodes? Hey on Twitter at how about a Fresca Mike at Swollen Dome? Who knows? Maybe your idea will make it into a future episode of

Special Teams. Our show was heard Monday through Friday on Fox Sports Radio ten b into two am on the East Coast, seven to eleven on the West Coast. Enjoy the weekend. We'll talk to you in a few days. You're on Special Teams. Before you go, rate and review the show, whether you're listening on I Heart Radio, I Heart Radio apps, Apple, whatever it is, give us a rate, tell us you like it. We will love you forever and ever and ever. Special Teams is a production of

I Heart Radio. For more podcasts from my heart Radio, visit the I Heart Radio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.