Take a look at the upcoming weather for Green Bay, Wisc., and you might shiver from the comfy confines of California. On Saturday, when the 49ers and Packers play in the NFC Divisional Round, highs at Lambeau Field will be 21 degrees, and the low will be at 1 degree. Yes, a single degree, with "a few flurries or snow showers possible," according to Weather.com. With local kickoff time set for 7:15 p.m. CT, more than two hours after sunset, the Frozen Tundra figures to live up to its nickname Saturday.
Mike Holmgren knows the 49ers and Packers well, as he served as a coach for both franchises in the 1980s and 1990s. The San Francisco native joined 95.7 The Game’s “The Morning Roast” Wednesday and said there’s nothing quite like a blustery day at Lambeau. You can listen to his full interview below:
“It’s hard for a West Coast team, or a warm-weather city team to come into Green Bay at this time of year, going against a fine Packer team,” Holmgren told hosts Bonta Hill and Joe Shasky. “You can say you’re prepared, you can say you’re ready, but then all the sudden you come out of the tunnel and hit the field, it shocks you.“
For what it’s worth, this year’s 49ers squad’s coldest game came on Dec. 5 at Seattle, when the temperature was 41 degrees at kickoff.
49ers tight end George Kittle is a Midwest boy who played his college ball at Iowa. He, for one, is looking forward to the frigid conditions Saturday.
“Lambeau’s gonna to be awesome,” Kittle told reporters Wednesday, via the 49ers. “Historic stadium. Haven’t played there since 2018. Very excited to go there. It’s really kind of a dream come true. Looking forward to that experience, playing a night playoff game at Lambeau, zero degrees. What more can you ask for?”
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Kittle added that he once played in a game that was minus-28 degrees with windchill.
“That was really fun,” Kittle said with a big grin.
49ers quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo is also used to playing in cold weather as an Illinois native.
“I've lived in it my whole life,” Garoppolo said. “I think people who have grown up in [the cold] and played in it for a long time, there's ways to prepare for it, things that you kind of know going into it. But yeah, I think our team, we have a good mindset going into this thing and we know what it's going to be like on Saturday, so it'll be a hell of an atmosphere.”
