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- January 14, 2024
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Inclement weather has postponed at least one NFL playoff game this weekend, with Sunday’s Pittsburgh Steelers-Buffalo Bills matchup bumped due to “dangerous conditions in Buffalo,” New York Governor Kathy Hochul announced. But the show went on at Arrowhead Stadium, even as temperatures plummeted to -4 Fahrenheit by Saturday’s 8 p.m. ET kickoff. Over 76,000 fans bundled up against the -24 windchill to watch the Kansas City Chiefs face off against the Miami Dolphins in tonight’s wild-card game. Among them was Taylor Swift, there to cheer on her boyfriend, Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce.
Swift missed last week’s Chiefs game against the Los Angeles Chargers, opting instead to attend the Golden Globes. The Chiefs narrowly won that game, ending the regular season with 11 wins and six losses. With her Eras Tour on hold until February 7, when she’ll pick things back up in Tokyo, the only obvious reason not to attend today’s game was the incredibly cold weather, which rivals 1967’s infamous Ice Bowl, in which the Green Bay Packers and Dallas Cowboys faced off in -13 degree weather (wind chill of -36) in Lambeau Field.
Swift arrived in weather-appropriate gear, fans worried for her warmth will be pleased to see. The singer, who favors mini skirts and heels, instead wore flat and practical boots, black jeans, and a heavy and quilted Chiefs-themed jacket emblazoned with Kelce’s name and team number (87). The jacket was created by Kristin Juszczyk, a custom game-day outfit designer who’s also the wife of San Francisco 49ers fullback Kyle Juszczyk. Hand-making the coat was the “honor of a lifetime,” the artist said on Instagram.
Swift’s approachable look presented a notable contrast to Kelce’s entrance outfit, which included biker/Daddy adjacent leather (or pleather?) large-pocketed pants and a short, checkerboard-patterned jacket. (There’s something refreshing about a couple where the man seems to stress more about his outfit than the woman, know what I mean?)
Swift also seemed unstressed by the latest attack on her choice to attend games, this one from former NFL coach Tony Dungy, who has long espoused opposition to LGBTQ people and who leveraged a player’s health crisis to argue against reproductive rights for women. Once you know that track record, it’s certainly hard to take his claims—made to Fox News, of course—that her presence is “disenchanting people with sports now.” The notable uptick in viewership for Chiefs fans would seemingly debunk this, as would the spike in ticket sales for games. But as Dungey also fell for the false and laughable claim that elementary school children are insisting on restroom litter boxes, one wonders if facts are his first priority.
The NFL has already warned that tonight’s game could be “the coldest home playoff game in Kansas City history,” but Chiefs head coach Andy Reid isn’t expecting that to be an advantage over the warm-weather-accustomed Dolphins. “You can’t bank on that,” Reid told the Associated Press. “We’re not having a snowball fight.”
NFL chief medical officer Allen Sills has been in contact with both teams’ medical staffs, ESPN reports, ensuring players will have cold weather gear that rivals the garb Travis’s mother, Donna Kelce, favors,” including heated benches, other heating equipment, heavy jackets and parkas.”
But while Reid is cautious about prematurely declaring victory, history appears to favor the Chiefs. Per the AP, his team has only lost one of its last ten home games in which the temperature dipped below 40 degrees Fahrenheit, “and that includes a 4-0 mark in playoff games.”
The Kansas City Chiefs play their first game in the NFL’s 2024 playoffs against the Miami Dolphins at 8 p.m. Eastern on Saturday, January 13. Live viewing of the game is available only via Peacock.
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