GREEN BAY, Wis. — So much for Ice Bowl II.
Despite all the dire pregame warnings, the 49ers’ 23-20 victory Sunday over the Packers in the NFC wild-card game at Lambeau Field couldn’t even crack the list of the NFL’s 10 coldest games.
The temperature at kickoff was 5 degrees above zero (minus-10 with the wind chill factored in), a far cry from the minus-13 degree temperatures and minus-48 degree wind chill for the Ice Bowl on this same field in 1967 between the Cowboys and Packers — still the coldest game in the history of the sport.
Niners-Packers couldn’t even rival the Giants’ 23-20 win at Lambeau in the 2007 NFC title game, which was played in minus-4 temperatures with a minus-24 degree wind chill at kickoff.
That’s not to say it was balmy Sunday, though, because the 49ers almost to a man considered it a formidable obstacle.
“It was cold, man — real cold,” veteran linebacker Patrick Willis said of what was determined to be the 14th-coldest game in league history. “That’s probably the coldest game I’ve ever played in, and it only got worse in the second half. I’m glad to get that one over with.”
One of the few 49ers who didn’t struggle with the weather was quarterback Colin Kaepernick, a Wisconsin native who refused to wear sleeves or a protective glove on his throwing hand, despite the pregame plea from coach Jim Harbaugh.
“I asked him about wearing sleeves, and he said, ‘Nah, coach, I’ve played in colder [weather],” Harbaugh said.
Kaepernick looked right at home in the arctic conditions, throwing for 227 yards and rushing for a team-high 98 in the comeback victory he sealed by leading a 14-play, 65-yard field goal march in the game’s final 5:06.
Wide receiver Michael Crabtree also thrived despite the weather, which was an even bigger surprise than Kaepernick’s success, considering Crabtree is a Dallas native.
Crabtree ended up with eight catches for 125 yards, prompting a giddy Harbaugh to declare his hands the most reliable in the history of football.
“People talk about cold weather, and it being tough to catch balls,” Harbaugh said. “But the greatest catcher of all time, Michael Crabtree, catches everything. It’s unbelievable. In the northern snow lands, down to the tropic sunny scenes, he’s catching the football. Wherever they throw a football, he’ll be catching it.”
Crabtree and the 49ers could end up playing in similar conditions — or worse — if they make it back to the Super Bowl next month at MetLife Stadium. After coming through Sunday’s predicted winter apocalypse just fine, they sounded more than OK with that.
“I absolutely loved it,” offensive guard Alex Boone said. “I wish I’d gone out there without sleeves, to be honest. That was fun.”