With a high on Sunday of four degrees and a low of 15 below, the Packers plan to prepare for their coming frostbite by getting a little frostbitten.
As explained by Tom Silverstein of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, the Packers will practice outside on Thursday in preparation for Sunday’s possible Ice Bowl II, this time against the 49ers. While individual drills and a walk-through will take place indoors, the bulk of the team drills will happen in the elements.
“You just have to dress warm,” quarterback Aaron Rodgers said. “The cold is a part of winter in Green Bay. You get kind of used to it. You deal with it. You learn how to throw the ball effectively and you figure out what are the most important things to keep warm, and that’s your head and your hands. As long as you have a good hand warmer and some sort of heat around your head, you should be OK.”
Thursday’s conditions won’t completely simulate Sunday’s, with an expected high temperature of 11 degrees. But that’ll be a far better approximation than the 49ers will experience as they prepare in California, with a mercury reading in the 60s.
Silverstein points out that the Packers rarely practiced outside under California native Mike Holmgren, and that current coach Mike McCarthy began opting for outdoors practice in the cold after the Packers lost at home to the Giants in minus-one temperature of the 2007 NFC title game.
If the Packers manage to beat the 49ers on Sunday, the next wave of indoor practice facilities throughout the NFL could incorporate lots and lots of freon gas, dry ice, and/or liquid nitrogen.