Rob Demovsky, ESPN Staff Writer 7y

101 degrees of separation: Frozen Tundra could roast for Packers-Bengals

GREEN BAY, Wis. -- Believe it or not, there’s a place in the Green Bay Packers' media guide that lists the warmest home games in team history.

It’s not an oft-referenced list, to be sure, but Sunday’s game against the Cincinnati Bengals might end up at the top of it.

With a forecasted high temperature of 88 degrees, according to AccuWeather, it could be the warmest game ever played at Lambeau Field -- and it wouldn’t even be that close.

According to the Packers, it has never been warmer than 85 degrees for a home game. And that game wasn’t even in Green Bay. The 85-degree game came at Milwaukee’s County Stadium, where the Packers used to play two home games a season through the 1994 season, against the New Orleans Saints on Sept. 10, 1978.

The warmest game at Lambeau was an 84-degree affair against the Los Angeles Rams on Oct. 6, 1963. There have been only seven home games at 80 degrees or more since the Packers began recording temperatures in 1959.

Official game temperatures are taken right at kickoff. AccuWeather’s hourly forecast for Sunday calls for 88 degrees at 3 p.m. Central time and 85 degrees at 4 p.m. Kickoff is at 3:25 p.m.

If it’s 88 at kickoff, it would be 101 degrees warmer than the coldest home game in Packers history -- the minus-13-degree Ice Bowl against the Cowboys on Dec. 31, 1967.

At least it has been warm and dry in Green Bay all week, so coach Mike McCarthy has been able to take the team outside for a practice. The Packers even held a short workout Saturday, when the high temperature reached into the low 90s.

“We’ve had some warm weather here of late, so it’s not like it’s showing up for one day,” McCarthy said. “I’m sure we’ll be fine.”

The warmest games in Packers history all have come on the road. Twice -- at San Diego in 1978 and at Arizona in 2003 -- they played in 102-degree weather. Last year’s season opener at Jacksonville tied for the third-warmest game in Packers history at 90 degrees.

When asked this week about last year’s opener, Packers defensive tackle Mike Daniels said the word “warm” doesn’t even begin to describe what it was like in Jacksonville.

“That game wasn’t warm, OK?” Daniels said. “You just have to take care of your hydration. Be smart.”

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