I Love the 80s: The Freezer Bowl

On January 10th, 1981, the Bengals hosted the Chargers in the AFC Championship Game - a contest that would go down as the coldest football game in NFL history, with temperatures reaching -39 degrees Fahrenheit (with wind chill). Hear all the crazy stories that came out of this game, (which included burnt referees) as players still feel the effects of this contest nearly 40 years later. What sunk the Chargers in what would turn out to be Air Coryell's best chance at a Super Bowl? We'll tell you. Plus, two players from this game would later on be dealt for another in one of the worst trades in NFL history.

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
Welcome to Special Teams, a production of I Heart Radio.

(00:20):
Hello and Welcome inside Special Teams with Jason Smith and
Mike Harmon, a podcast where we look back at a
specific year in sports and the special teams that did
something really big that year. Today, we're continuing our run
of big games from the eighties. Hey, We've got a
lot of notes from from you saying, hey, let's go
back before the es. How about some stuff in the

(00:41):
eighties and seventies you ask, we provide. This episode, we
look back at one of the forgotten classics, not so
much for the way the game was played, but the
circumstances surrounding it. The one A f C Championship game
between the Cincinnati Bengals and the San Diego Chargers, better
known as the Freezer Bowl, the coldest game in NFL history. Yes,

(01:06):
the Ice Bowl was cold, the famous game with the
Green Bay Packers winning over the Dallas Cowboys. However, this game,
the air temperature was minus nine degrees fahrenheit. But when
you add in the wind chill factor with you with
a sustained twenty seven mile an hour wind, it comes
in at thirty seven or thirty eight degrees below zero.

(01:30):
They played Chicago and winners. Growing up, Yeah in Chicago,
you go to the beach on days like that, right, yeah,
no question. So minus thirty eight degrees fahrenheit was the
temperature of this game, the coldest game in NFL history,
factoring in wind chill January the Cincinnati Bengals in the
San Diego Chargers. And this game gets lost, uh, sometimes

(01:53):
because of what surrounded it, because the week before this, hey,
how did the Chargers get to this game? Well, the game,
widely regardless has the greatest game in modern NFL history,
the win over the Miami Dolphins. Kellen Winslow coming off
the field carried by his teammates. We've seen that done
so many different ways, the hook and ladder touchdown for
the first half for the Miami Dolphins, and later on

(02:16):
today on this day, jan U Joe Montana would throw
a touchdown pass to Dwight Clark in the back of
the end zone that would also be known as the catch.
So you can understand where this game got lost a
little bit because you have the pageantry of one of
the greatest games the week before, then you had one
of the greatest games following this with one of the
greatest endings. And while this game wasn't close on the field,

(02:40):
certainly everything that goes around it, Uh, it makes it
stand out. And when we talk about the Charge and
the struggles they had in this game, it really stands out.
Well you look at that the other game, the Miami
San Diego game forty eight, as you said, I mean
it also puts Don Strock and Von Schalman you know,

(03:01):
to the wayside. So he was a lead singer motor head,
right Van Shaman, he and let me kill mmr uh
their moments of training vocals now and now again. Shaman
was the lead singer of Accept, the Big Band from
the nineteen eighties. Yeah, that's right, that's right, training vocals

(03:21):
supergroup as it were. But yeah, Jim Boston, sorry, go ahead, Yeah,
you get the the greatness of those games surrounding it. Uh.
It takes nothing away from people, uh freezing while watching
your football game or which is one of the great
rites of passage as as you float through, no question
about it. So this game to give you a little

(03:43):
background on both of these teams. The San Diego Chargers,
this was the middle of their era of boy the
high scoring, high flying, doing it away that we haven't
seen anybody in the NFL do it this up and
down the field on offense throwing the football as often
as they did, and it was new and they were
the only team that really did it like this in
the NFL. And the question was always can you win

(04:05):
a Super Bowl throwing the football like this? Right? That
was the bad and I mean now it's you gotta
throw the football to win the Super Bowl, but back
then it was can you really win throwing the football
this much? Don't you need to have a power running
game where you hold onto the football and thing? Can
you really win by going up and down the field
with all these all this crazy wide open offense. There
was a big discrepancy and big discussion about that, and

(04:26):
the Chargers were the team that was going to render
the verdict on this. If the Chargers can win the
Super Bowl, it could be done. But if they can't,
then you know, high flying offenses still are don't have
their place in the a f L, where the Chargers
came from, where they had to sell tickets and guys
throwing the football. That was one thing, But this is
the National Football League and this, in retrospect was the

(04:46):
best chance for the Chargers to prove their point and
win the Super Bowl. They come into this game. Dan
Fouts is all world at quarterback at this point, Charlie Joyner,
Kellen Winslow, West Chandler is terrific. J Brooks who led
the NFL in total yards as a rookie, Chuck Munsey
led the NFL and touchdowns. I mean, they were unstoppable.

(05:07):
This team was so unstoppable, and maybe more importantly, they
had lightning bolts on their pants, which really that's the
way that was. That's the you know what, what's the
old line? Uh, it's from Catch Me if you can.
You know why? Why the why the Yankees have such
an advantage. It's the uniforms. People just can't stop looking
at the pin stripes. Well, I would wear if I could,

(05:27):
and I like, I would wear tight pants that had
lightning bolts up and down them if I could stop you.
If you have any creativity in your soul whatsoever, and
a couple of bucks in your pocket, you could make
this hat. Listen, I'm not going on Pinterest to try
to find something. I'm just not doing it right. If
I can you give me this size, I'll have them
for your next fight. You can't find it on eBay.
I'm not gonna go. Look, man, I'm gonna upgrade those

(05:50):
zoobaz pants you've been wearing for the last thirty years,
and we'll get you those lightning bolts. If you want
lightning bolts on your pants, man, I'll make sure that happens.
I'm gonna go to the dark Web to find lightning
bolts on pants. That's how I'm gonna do it. I
don't think you need the dark Web. I don't think
you need to open come. You might descrub your browser.
I don't need to. Okay, Well all right then, well

(06:10):
you know, challenge accepted. So for the next special teams,
you gotta tell me where that is. Then I will
find them lightning bolts on pants so or otherwise I'll
just custom design them. Man. Oh well, put your name
in the lightning bolts. Oh see, now if you can customize,
and that would be pretty cool that I'd kind of like. Alright,
Uh So this was Air Correel. This is them at

(06:33):
their at their biggest peaked on Corriel who brought this
offense in with him through to the NFL and the Chargers.
Really they only were ten and six on the season,
but you felt like they were always gonna win games
in the final two minutes. They were, They were always
up and down the field. They were fun to watch
and and you always went to this game going, boy,
if we don't have our a game going, they're gonna

(06:55):
blow us out because of the way they like to
play football. But I think that's one of the you
meant and kind of how we look at this team
in historical terms. Right, we had the fight over don
kore Yell in the Hall of Fame. Oh yeah, right,
and in the end they only won of his games, right,
and and not to dismiss it, he's above five hundred, great,

(07:16):
but it wasn't dominant, right when you talk about innovation
and things that are setting everybody's hair on fire. For
all the yardage, for all the spreading it out with
the myriad weapons you had in this offense, and some
of the great names from strata matic football history, no
question about it. Where you wanted to march up and

(07:36):
down the field, this was the team to do it.
Who do you got I'm gonna be the Chargers. Questions
had that won games in strata matic, not necessarily on
the NFL Gridirons sixty nine and fifty six for his
career with the Charges, seven and one in St. Louis
before that. So that's why you always have this battle.

(07:58):
I mean, they scored almost thirty points a game this year,
twenty nine point nine four hundred seventy eight points and
they were ten and six. But could this team that
throws the football and plays on the West Coast in
the sunshine, could their game travel? Because that's the other
part of the equation was, hey, can you play this
kind of offense in the playoffs in the cold weather?

(08:21):
Can you win games like this? Those two those are
the two number one and number two things people always
ask can the Chargers do it? And they were gonna
and there was no bigger challenge than this. You're talking
about the coldest game in the history of the NFL.
Congratulations Chargers. This is what you have to do in
Cincinnati to get to the super Bowl. And oh, by
the way, the Bengals, this is the year they put
it all together. This was a really, really solid team, right.

(08:43):
Dan Ross was a terrific tight end. Chris Collinsworth was
a rookie. You could already tell he was going to
be a star. And it's fun. I forgot how Collinsworth
used to when he would line up. He used to
just before the ball was snapped, he used to flail
his arms back and forth. You always know it was him.
He used to do that all the time, you know,
for getting fed about guys with no motion. He would
always do that as as as he would get ready

(09:04):
for the snap. So that was always fun. But they
had Pete Johnson who ran for a thousand yards and
sixteen touchdowns. Anthony Monios is the greatest offensive lineman of
all time. They really put it all together. Forest greg
was the head coach who, oh, by the way, played
in the Ice Bowl, so he had the unfortunate experience
of having to play in the two Colden's games in
NFL history. But it's funny. Forest Greg, though, is a

(09:26):
guy that I always associated as the Packers coach right
right exactly, even though he had more years in Cincinnati.
To me, he was always the Packers coach, just me.
With all of this going on, the head of the
snake of this team was quarterback Kenny Anderson. And there
was no more shocking ascent than Kenny Anderson. This year

(09:49):
in the NFL. He was the top rated passer in
the league. He was the m v P. He was
the come from behind are the comeback player of the year.
He had always been a good, solid quarterback into the
Pro Bowl a couple of times. Cincinnati was decent in
the early nineteen seventies, early to mid nineteen seventy Cincinnati
won a few games at playoff games. They had three
ten win seasons, and then they were terrible. And when

(10:11):
they were terrible, Anderson was terrible. I can't believe he
stayed with them. I can't believe they kept him as
a quarterback. He was awful in nineteen eighty awful, nine
ten touchdowns, twenty two picks. He was how do you
stay there quiet that point, he'd been in the legal while.
How do you not say, okay, maybe time for a
change in quarterback? And then he got all the way

(10:32):
to the nineteen six I know, and he played. I
mean it was unbelievable, like he had Like I get it.
You have a couple of good years while you young,
so you get the benefit of the data as you
get older, but usually that's as a backup. And you know,
this is where, Nope, he's still gonna be. Our starters
are are you kidding me? And then in one he
throws twenty nine touchdowns thirty eight hundred yards, all career highs.

(10:53):
He never approached those numbers before that year or after
that year. It's like he was efficient the following two years.
Like if this was the two seventy one percent completion,
if he was a baseball player, you would say, oh,
that's the year that they were banging the trash can.
And he knew exactly what was going on. He knew,
he knew what the play was, he knew what kind
of defense they were in because they banged the trash

(11:13):
can like for the Astros. But that that was the
meteoric rise of Kenny Anderson. If his if his career
was a grand it would be flat flight flat flave,
flat up, a little bit flat five, flat up, a
litt bit flaight flight flight flight flat down, down, down, down, down, straight,
all the way up to the top, straight, all the
way down the bottom flat flight flight flight flight flight flat.
That's Anderson. Yeah, that's the guy. That's the rumor that
you got the big innovation that everybody's looking for. So

(11:35):
the stock pops and then you failed to meet earnings
the next quarter. Uh, and you go right back up
the charts. Twenty nine touchdowns in eight one for his career.
He was there from seventy one to eighty six, amazing.
He grew more than twenty touchdowns once one one other
time back in nineteen seventy five, nineteen, the year after,

(11:58):
and that eleven, ten, sixteen, And he played most most years.
He played in almost all games. So it wasn't like
he was down in the you know, Jim McMahon era
and guys like that that were contemporaries where you were
gonna miss a bunch of games along the way. No,
he played, uh and just didn't excel. How's that for

(12:20):
being kind? No, that was good. You played and didn't excel.
Thank you. I appreciate that. Just go out there. It's
like Jennifer Anderston, Hey, we're gonna give you another script
for romantic comedy. Is it gonna be good? It's gonna stink? Okay, Well,
we'll keep giving him to you. You lead Jennifer Anderston alone,
she's an American treasure. Did she go to Northwestern? No? Okay, okay,

(12:42):
So I I have no tie to her other than
just um my love of her. That's nice night. Thanks,
for that and we had that water that was the
billboard right by our exit for work for a while,
so when I get stopped at that light, I could smile.
So fortunately that sets the table completely for the Freezer Bowl.

(13:05):
What happened next and what happened to the players following
this game, coldest game in NFL history, the Freezer Bowl?
Why did the Chargers have so many problems? We'll tell
you coming up next January, Cincinnati Riverfront Stadium. Dick Enberg

(13:39):
and Merlin Olson on the call. Minus nine degrees minus
thirty eight degrees when you factor in the windshill factor.
The Freezer Bowl, the coldest game in NFL history, was
set to kick off, and the players knew right away
this was gonna be unlike any game they ever played.
Hank Bower, who had gone out for the Chargers to
warm up before game, do a bit of running and

(14:01):
come back in, actually told his teammates when he came
back in, guys, listen, um, whatever layers you're wearing, take
them off, because they're just gonna slow you down and
it's not gonna help anyway, because it's just that cold out.
And you can mentioned Merlin Olson, I mean father Murphy
up in the booth, praying for some sunshine if it's warm,
and it did he did, there was. The sun did
peek in and out at times in the game, but

(14:22):
it still didn't matter. It's not like it went from hey,
minus thirty eight, now it's fifty degrees. No, it's minus
thirty eight. Now it's minus thirty six and a half degrees. Uh.
Both teams had trouble and both teams were were were
intimidated by the cold. But you could tell there was
one team there's a little bit more ready for it.
It was Cincinnati. One team that was not, and that's
the Chargers. Kenny Anderson, after in between every play, would

(14:44):
put his hands right down his pants right where where's
the warmest part of your body, right in the growing areas.
That's where I'm gonna put my hands to warm up
between every play, found advice. Fouts was wearing a white
sweatshirt under his jersey and after every play he would
pull the cuffs over his hands to keep him warm.
He he had a tough time holding onto the football

(15:05):
the entire game. And you're gonna see a big pattern
with Dan Fouts and why the Charges weren't able to
get to the Super Bowl and win. This game is
really about Dan Fouts and a lack of planning. But
right away you knew that Dan facts this was not
going to be his day, all right. The first pass
of the game, he threw He's got Kellen Winslow wide
open in the flat it. Winslow is gonna catch it
five yards and run for another ten yards in the

(15:28):
first down, and Fouts there's nobody between him and he
throws the ball and it flutters ten feet over Winslow's
head into the sideline. Winslow barely jumps because he's not
gonna catch it. And from that moment, uh, he maybe
backed away from the TV and said, oh, Dan Fouts
is gonna struggle. His third pass of the game, he
tries to throw it up twenty yards down field, it

(15:49):
flutters out of his hand, comes down, and it should
have been picked off because there's two dbs there, but
they wind the ball winds up going to the ground.
And this was kind of the day for Fouts. It
was so much that he had trouble throwing the football
as much as it was gripping it, because the ball
should never have fluttered the way it did coming out
of his hand. In fact, even said after the game,
I can't believe Kenny Anderson was able to throw spirals

(16:11):
during the game. I couldn't throw them at all. But
I have a big check mark in the column for
warm weather team that likes to throw the football coming
into the cold and can't do it. Check mark. That
was the San Diego Chargers. Yeah, on that first play,
you just see the ball flutter and start to rise
Winslow as you described it, a little bit of a
jump and the mean mug. Look he game Dan Fouts

(16:35):
on that play right off the jump. All right, we're
gonna have fun for the next two and a half
to three hours because you already have a little bit
of malcontentedness from your white house. And so you're trying
to throw short and you're praying for yak you're playing,
you're praying for the slip tackle and you know, the
the big play that comes off a short pass that

(16:58):
never comes. And that's the thing. When Fouts would throw short,
when he would try to throw ten to twelve yards
past the line of scrimmage, they did well because the
Chargers moved the ball the whole day. It's not like, oh,
every game with every every series was three downs upon
they moved the ball well, but when they tried to
go for chunk yardage, they either turned the ball over fouts,
couldn't throw the football deep. It was incomplete. They would

(17:20):
make a mistake mistakes and not being able to go
down field killed the Chargers and they never adjusted. You
think at halftime after a half of not throwing the football, well,
they would say, all right, here's what we gotta do.
We gotta go down ten yards at a time. But
or or we gotta take what we can get from
this defense, because clearly every time we try to get
greedy and throw the ball downfield, we couldn't do it right.

(17:40):
And this was the first half to a t for
the Chargers. All right, the Bengals do a smart thing
and the opening kickoff, they decided to take the wind
at their backs in the first and third quarter because
they want to put doubt in San Diego's mind. They
want to get off to a fast start because San
Diego's team, you can pile up a lot of points
if we can make them have a scoreless first order,
not be able to control the game. We put doubt

(18:02):
in their minds. Maybe we get a score or two,
we can control the game. And that turned out to
be the best decision because normally, when you're choosing the wind,
you wanted second and fourth quarter, but they chose first
and third quarter because they wanted to get off to
a big start, and it happened. James Brooks had a
fumble after Cincinnati kicked the field goal, Anderson throws a
touchdown past M. L. Harris. It's ten nothing Cincinnati in

(18:23):
the first quarter. It's cold for both teams, but still
Cincinnati was a little bit better being able to move
down the field. And we get to the second quarter
and it's ten nothing Bengals and you're wondering, is San
Diego gonna get back in this or are they just
gonna just fall over for the rest of the day. Well,
and we know that the hits hurt a little bit
more growing up in Chicago play football you were in

(18:46):
New York. Right, If you're down a little bit and
things aren't clicking, the the extra blow, it's gonna hurt
a little more when it's cold and you're already miserable,
and so that that want to sometimes gets beaten out
of you pretty fast. And it's not that you're getting
obliterated because I mean they're not getting blown out by

(19:07):
any stretch. It's just more of the function of you know,
you're not seeing that chunk yardage that you're normally gonna
gonna use. And the rub routes were years from being
really used effectively. Uh, think about the Chargers if they
implemented some of that take that COREEL needed ground COREEL
instead of aircraft. Now, two things, at least you know

(19:28):
some some more. I think creativity on the I don't
I don't work the intermediate all about those halftime adjustments, Jason,
I mean, that's really what it's all about. Two big
things for San Diego. In the first quarter, they get
in position to kick a field goal and Ralph Bernershka,
who was one of the better kickers in the NFL,
uh comes out to kick. Look, he was a big
hero and bernursca you know the week before when but

(19:50):
when you're kicking in Miami's eighty eight degrees, hey, it's
a little bit different. His thirty seven yard field goal
gets about three feet off the ground and doesn't even
reach the end zone. His ball had no chance and
you can tell already in his head is I don't
know that I can kick this ball today. I I
really don't know. Now it's into the stiff wind in
the first quarter, but I don't know that I can
do it. Dan Fouts also makes an incredibly bad play

(20:14):
another chance that san Diego has, because like I said,
they drove the ball downfield. He tries to get greedy
and he throws a jump ball into the end zone.
That's a flutterball that gets picked off by Cincinnati and
and San Diego walks off the field and you're saying,
what the hell kind of throw is that? And it
was a throw to the quarterback if he makes that.
Now he sits on the bench because I'm throwing it

(20:35):
up into the end zone and there's two defensive backs
there and one of my guys, and this is this
is a smart play. And instead of getting a chance
to get more points, this was one of the first
examples of here's Dan Fouts, here's the Chargers getting too
greedy making a bad throw instead of trying to get
down the field in a little bit different way. And
so instead of being in the game, you're staring at

(20:56):
attend nothing deficit and boy, it looks like a lot
of points. Stop talking about Jake Cutler. I thought we
were talking about the charge. Oh look at you. Wow, Hey,
you know you talked about the last podcast. Jake Cutler
is the most underrated, maybe the best quarterback I love
and now you're just ripping Jay Cutler. No, I love
Jake Cutler, but there were times where there was no conscience.
I'm putting it. What should I said, Ryan Fitzpatrick. Maybe

(21:19):
expectations are low. That guy's the biggest winner in football
history for the longevity of the career that he's had
and his ability to show off his kids math skills.
Jay Cutler is a guy that people will take the digs.
I just took the easy one for everybody that was
thinking it as you're speaking. I I wear my jersey
all the time, not quite not quite a T shirt?

(21:42):
You do, I will? I do wear that jersey all
the time. You never wear the jersey and the purple
shorts at the same time, though, I mean dark bluin right, Yeah? No,
dark blue and purple don't go together, is no? I
mean that that's one if I'm hold up, you know
in my lonely writer's Garrett where nobody sees me so
at this point I'm think Cincinnati knows when Fouts tries
to throw the football deep, he's not gonna be able

(22:04):
to do it, and we're gonna be able to jump
in front of passes, and we know we can't get
him down field. But the big lightning strike, quick moment
that the Chargers had, really the only one of the day,
actually comes in the second quarter when they cut the
score to ten seven. Now, the wind is at San
Diego's back and they're touchdown of the day. They only

(22:25):
scored one scored seven points. Dan Fouts. It looks like
it's gonna be some kind of bootleg play, but what
it really is is a play to free up Kellen
Winslow on a tight end screen, and Fouts turns around
almost directly into one of the Cincinnati Bengals defensive lineman.
He just throws it blindly to where Winslow is supposedly

(22:47):
going to be standing, hoping he's gonna catch it. Winslow
catches it, and he rumbles down the sideline for a
thirty three yard touchdown. This cuts the score to ten seven. Now,
before we get further a little bit about Kellen Winslow,
we know the kind of player he was the Hall
of Fame player you see highlights, but watching this game
and specifically this play, he's someone who is so physically

(23:09):
dominant and apparent you know where he is every mobile
he's on the screen because he's so much bigger than
everybody else. And this guy is a tight end and
he he wasn't he wasn't skinny. He looked like a
man playing against boys. Because this touchdown, when he catches
the ball and runs, it's like one of those video
games where you catch it and you're running and other
player comes up to try to tackle you and you

(23:31):
hit the stiff arm button and you knocked them down,
you know, or like one of those touchdowns for one
of those football movies where the really big team with
all the big kids just blocks everybody out and the
guy pushes everybody out of the way and gets to
the end zone, I mean early in the game, before
the big ragtag come back at the end and some
kind of crazy thing happens. But that's what Kellen Winslow
is like. So you just watch a few plays from
this game, and it's easy to see why this guy

(23:53):
was so dominant, why he was so good. He just
looks like he's on a different level physically and in
control of his body attically than anybody else on the field.
It really was something to see. Well, Hall of Famer
and why when his kid made the the NFL, the
expectations were huge for him. And we know where things
have gone sideways, uh through the years. But you know what,

(24:14):
we watched these teams. You go back and you think
of what receivers look like today, right, A bigger, stronger, faster,
I mean, he was that prototype thirty years ago, right,
and and would have fit right in to the way
we run offenses now. Uh, and the big passing attacks.
So yeah, you're you're just seeing that size differential, the

(24:36):
ability to create space. All of that led to such
a huge career. And again here you're you're trying to
get just that separation, but you can't get the big
play and the big pop and and mentioned the career
record of Coreyell and everything else. Just's just how did
with all this talent they never got over And I
know our our show producer, Justin Frostberg as he listens

(24:59):
to us Curson uh for for not you know, extolling
all the virtues of the Chargers fun to watch, and
then in big moments, just no matter how much talent
you had, couldn't get over. At this point, the Chargers, okay,
maybe we're back into it. Fouts. Everybody jumps on the
field to congratulate him after this touchdown, and maybe this

(25:21):
is their moment. Okay, they broke through the touchdown. The
game is ten seven. Now we got Now we got
something going on. Except that was it. Cincinnati dominates from
that moment out. They drive right back down the field.
Pete Johnson scores a touchdown to make it seventeen seven.
Dan Fouts drives the Charges back down the field and
again he throws a long wobbler to Charlie Joyner that's

(25:44):
picked off by Cincinnati. And this is what I mean
when I say that he couldn't grip the football, because
this is what the wind at his back. He shouldn't
be throwing a flutterball in the second quarter, but he
escapes from the pressure and he just throws up in
the ball just goes straight up in the air. You
can tell the cin C DBS is saying he can't
throw it that far. And it's not like he's trying
to make a sixty yard throw. This is like a

(26:05):
yard throw and Joiners kind of running downfield, going where's
the ball? The Cincinnati dB stopped because they see it fluttering,
and it's an easy pick at the five yard line
for the Bengals. Another big chance that goes out the
window for San Diego, and the combination of the weather
and the turnovers and things are just going really horribly
for the Chargers. And the other thing to notice about

(26:26):
Fouts is this is that, as good as he was,
Dan Fouts had the worst footwork of any quarterback I've
ever seen. He would just take those little baby steps
to drop back and pass. Sometimes he would take ten
step drops. Sometimes there'd be eight, sometimes they'd be fifteen.
And so it's really it's really hard to be able
to to throw the football with the effort and and

(26:47):
and the zip you need on every play when you're
not really talking about the timing of Okay, this is
seven steps and I'm throwing it. Granted it wasn't that
wasn't all the way back in the time back then
this is what quarterbacks did, but still a lot of
it was three five seven step drops and and and
if you even longer drop than that, okay, but wow,
you really need to drop back ten yards to throw
the football, and his footwork was so bad that he

(27:08):
couldn't overcome the other things. Because sometimes quarterbacks footworks can
save them when it comes to throwing a deep out
or throwing a slant or throwing the ball down field.
But found his footwork was so is that these baby
steps all over the places. His body was never all
the time facing one way or the other. You know,
you you don't have momentum. And it's easy to see
in this game why this was able to come back

(27:28):
and hurt him and why the Charges don't go to
the super Bowl just watching the the drop bags waiting
for things to develop. You know, the interior lineman really
had their work cut out for him, uh in this one,
because the rush was coming up the gut and Fouch
wasn't a guy getting to the outside extending plays. So
the baby step drop backs, so trying to stop that

(27:49):
motion and then put your full body into the throws.
You know you're short arming some of it or relying
fully on your arm strength and coming up short. And
a Hall of Fame career, big big number and all
that we've talked about as to what this offense did.
But you know, in big moments, big games, game plan
against them in here. No confidence against the wind either.

(28:12):
That that's the other thing that comes in. Even with
the wind at his back, didn't seem that happen. Like
I said, Thrust, I don't think he could hold the
football really well. And it's not like the Bengals were
baby hands like you hands. It's not like the Bengals
were playing great. I mean the Bengals were just playing
good enough. They were capitalizing on the Chargers mistakes, which

(28:34):
were many. And you know, that's what the third quarter
looked like, because in the third quarter San Diego did
to just they still tried to get down the field
the same way a couple of running players throw the
ball and then they would try to throw the ball
deep and it wouldn't work. Uh, they could have used
Brooks and then gotten down the field of Brooks and Munsey.
They could have done that all day. They were they
were they were running the ball well enough, and they
were throwing the ball tended twelve yards down the field

(28:57):
well enough. It's not like Fouts was ten for forty
live on the day. He actually had a pretty and
an okay completion percentage. But they just couldn't. They just
couldn't get a right mix of how to get the
ball downfield. Here's a perfect example, their first drive of
the game, of the second of the of the second half. Alright,
seventeen seven, let's get out there and get and get
a score. Uh, getting down the field. First drive, their

(29:19):
inside Cincinnati's forty yard line, Chuck Munsey just has the
ball popped out and it's one of those clear, uh
fundamental tackles where the helmet goes on the football and
because it's so cold, it's very difficult. The ball pops out,
Cincinnati recovers, they turn that into a field goal. The
next big chance the Chargers have for points, big third
down play from the twenty yard line. Dan Fouts dropping

(29:41):
back kind of locks shoes with Doug Wilkerson. One of
his offensive lineman falls down eleven yards behind the line
of scrimmage. So it's a field goal for Bernarska, who
again misses horribly, doesn't reach the goal line again. And
that's it. I mean, at that point you throw your
arms up and say that's it. They got one more
touchdown on the day that the Bengals did in the

(30:03):
fourth quarter. That really cemented the game, Anderson throws a
touchdown to Don Bass and seven is your final. The
Bengals go on and the Chargers go back to what
just happened to us in the cold? We could never
figure it out? And now the Bengals are going to
the super Bowl. When you build a team, you know
you got eight at home, and you're playing in beautiful,
sunny San Diego, right, the most beautiful, best city in

(30:28):
the world by some of those magazines that rate all
those different aspects. But you've got to account for the
fact that eight of your games aren't played in San Diego,
and then certainly in the playoffs, all bets are off.
But you're built for one style of play man. How
many times do we watch it from the college perspective
of all right, you play in this conference and I'll

(30:48):
take my beloved Big Ten for instance, or for all
those years it was rough and tumble, right three yards
in a cloud of dust, and then you go play
some high flying SEC team in a bowl game, by
the way, that's still have and they just got track
athletes that are running circles around you. I mean, I
think back to Northwestern playing USC right, played very well

(31:09):
in in the Big Ten, Conference, they beat Notre name
all of these things, the Miracle of the Purple to Pasadena,
and then I watched Keyshawn Johnson make all the defense
and backs, and everybody just looked like they were standing still. Granted,
no Pat Fitzgerald in that game because he'd been injured.
But I don't I don't think even Moses himself. Uh,

(31:29):
Charlton Heston, Oh, I thought you been Moses. Well, Charlton Heston,
Northwestern grad would have been able to close up that
red Sea Hill. Moses former actor of the seventies and
eighties and the nighttime soap operas. That's nice, nicely done.
I think I'm out of guys whose last name is Moses, Haven, Moses, Billy, Moses. Well,
we can bring in Moses Moreno. Yeah, but that's that's

(31:51):
his first name. There's a lot of first names Moses. Yeah.
But I was going to try to go the last
name Moses. I tried, you know, I just thought I'd
try to keep the game going. But it's just that
idea of you. You build your team to play one
style and then unfortunately some signs, the styles and the
elements don't work in your favor. Fouts's day was fifteen

(32:15):
out of twenty eight for a hundred and eighty five yards,
the touchdown to Winslow and the two interceptions that I
told you about. They had four turnovers overall, which killed them.
Chuck Munsey had three fumbles uh and James Brooks had
a fumble as well. Not all of them lost obviously,
but Muncey ran for a hundred yards. He still got
eight yards receiving from West Chandler. They limited Kellen Winslow.

(32:37):
That was really the only play he had all day.
He only caught three passes total, and Charlie Joyner didn't
affect the team nothing they did on offense. They were
able to sustain enough to win. Meanwhile, for the Bengals,
Kenny Anderson and efficient day fourteen out of twenty two
for one sixty one and two touchdowns. It worked. Pete
Johnson ran for eight yards and a touchdown and that's
kind of all you needed, you know. Colins Worth only

(32:59):
caught a couple of asses, didn't matter. They were able
to finish their chances when they had them, while the
Chargers fumbled through picks, couldn't get accustomed to the cold.
And this is how the Bengals wind up in the
Super Bowl against the San Francisco forty Niners. But what
was next for these teams coming off of the coldest
game ever. Well, it's a big deal both physically mentally,

(33:21):
and a huge train between these teams in later years.
That's coming up next right here on special Teams. The

(33:44):
aftermath of the Freezer Bowl, Well, let's just say that
players are still feeling the effects of it today. Kenny
Anderson said his right hand has never been the same
since that day, and any time he gets really cold,
he has a trouble feeling it. It's it's never been
the same. Other players say the same thing about parts
of their bodies. Kellen Winslow said one of his feet

(34:04):
has never been the same following that game. It was
was it frostbite? Was it some kind of of damage
you did to your body? Because it was just that cold.
You have to think that was it. After that day,
anytime it gets cold, you see what happens to the
parts of your body. You got Anderson, you had Winslow.
A couple of the players said the same thing. Even
the referees had a difficult time in this game. They

(34:27):
kept going to the dryers on the sideline you know
those big things. They used to have to pump out
hot air to keep players warming on the sideicle of
when it was cold games. So the referees, when they
had a chance, they would run and stand right in
front of those dryers. Now it's right, it's not two
thousand twenties, so technology of hot dryers blowing out air
isn't the best. And there were sparks that were coming

(34:48):
out of the dryer once in a while. And a
couple of referees at the end of the game, you know,
when they were in the referee room changing, they looked
at each other's close and go, hey, dude, your your
shirt is burnt. Hey, your pants are burnt. Because they
got so close that their clothes got burnt. But it
was so cold they didn't feel it. They had they
had the parts in their what they were wearing burned,

(35:09):
and they didn't feel because it was still so called out. Well,
it's like Cramer when he was putting his uh clothes
in the pizza oven. Uh it burned him up. I mean,
what are you gonna do? What do I know about
cooking a shirt? But you know, we talked to Mike
Pereira about this on our evening show on Fox Sports
Radio every season about dealing with the elements and the
different referees, because you're starting to take age into consideration, right,

(35:32):
how many guys have been through the wars and and
and where they're at physically. It's a it's a question
that you ask in twenty going forward. Uh, you know,
dealing with COVID nineteen as well, the precautions taken for referees,
just like we're looking at players, coaches, and staff, but
also for the elements, you know, keeping warm. You know,
this was a couple of years before ISOTNA gloves too,

(35:55):
before Dan Marino started doing holiday commercials to give those out. So,
I mean, I don't know what the glove technology was
in nine in terms of being able to grip a
football and do all those things. So we look at
you know, simple technological games they're as well, but yeah,
trying to get warm on the sidelines a much different

(36:16):
animal thirty years later. Even the players at the end
of the game, we're telling that the officials seven seven,
they're going, dude, come on, just end the game. It's
so bleep and cold. Just end the game. Just the game,
Just end the game. It really was you see the
fans in the stands. I don't know how they made
it through the games, you know, by the way, just
just was really funny. But well that that helps as well.

(36:38):
What are you for it? Because you know there were
home fans watching to win? You know, watch this game
because you can see a replay of it on YouTube
if you if you want to see it, and in
and in going back and looking at some of the plays.
Here the number of w l W banners that were
up in Riverfront stated which was the Bengals radio network.
I mean, it was amazing nowadays how many there was

(36:58):
at least ten to fifteen w LW banners up that
they showed in between plays and when big things are
going on, here's banners up. We love winning and you
know the Bengals colors. I'm like, you never see that now,
like you know, the the Jets radio network. The people
don't go seven we're gonna beat the Patriots seven. Today
you don't see that. But back then that's all that

(37:18):
want WW Like I I think, if I want to remember, right,
there was I don't know if it was an urban
legend or an urban myth back then, but that if
you did a banner or held a sign at a
baseball game or a football game, or a basketball game,
hockey games, and you held the sign up, and it
was about one of the broadcasters that the chances are

(37:38):
you could get on television or and they would see it,
because it's about when it's hey, it's a commercial for us, right,
we're showing an ad for our radio station or TV station.
So it's always hey, if you do it, you'll be
able to get on TV. So maybe that's what they
were thinking. But I'm like, boy, that's a lot of
WW posters out there, and he's trying to get a
little bit of run, right, a little bit of extra FaceTime,
and everybody's trying to get themselves on. Were watching cardboard

(38:02):
cutouts of people uh in the crowds of surprise, they're
not holding up banners, flags, or other things with a
corporate or personal message uh to you. So yeah, that
curious as I watched the the replay as well of
all of that signage in a stadium different times though,
right from the national Games and what it met, the

(38:22):
magnification of it now, the way we look at the
televising of games and standardizing, I think to some degree,
as well. I mean I just remember growing up, you
know what, I'd rush home from school for Cubs broadcast
White Sox fans south side of town. But hey, day
baseball was day baseball. But watching that type of scenario, Uh,

(38:44):
you had one producer whose obvious I was to look
for the tourists that had come to Chicago, uh and
enjoyed themselves in the bleachers. Nowadays, you're probably not getting
away with some of the visuals that you get a
nice long looks like don't put the camera back on
the booth as they introduced the new inning. Nope, keeping
it on the ladies uh, in in the crowd, particularly

(39:04):
the bleacher creatures. Uh. And then certainly Harry Carey would
have the not too well whomever they found, uh and
usually holding up a banner or something, you know, showing
love to the broadcast booths. So that was the other
way to get on TV. To Jason Gamman, you know,
it's it's a tailor as old as time. So what
happened for these teams following well, they would actually get

(39:25):
back together a couple of years later in a much
different way. The Bengals go to the Super Bowl. They
lose to the fort is the first of Montana's championships.
And meanwhile, the Chargers stay the Chargers air correel, throw
the football up and down the field, and then right
before the season, what many Bengals fans will tell you
was the greatest trade in franchise history happened, and what

(39:45):
many Chargers fans would tell you was, what the hell
were we doing so prior to the Phelps uh all,
my Ken Phelps best at that ratio. Ever, Pete Johnson,
then of the Bengals, one a new contract from Cincinnati.
He had been a really good running back for the
past few years for the Bengals. We talked about him

(40:06):
in this game too. He had a touchdown. He was
threatening to go to the USFL if he didn't get
a new contract, so he had kind of had it
with the Bengals. He's a thirty year old running back. Meanwhile,
the Chargers, things weren't going swimming lee for them with
James Brooks, even though the first two years in the
league he led the NFL and all purpose yardage, but

(40:27):
for some reason it wasn't clicking and they decide, let's
make a trade. So the Chargers trade the twenty five
year old James Brooks for the thirty year old Pete Johnson, who,
by the way, is coming off a four game suspension
for cocaine usage. Uh so, I can't believe that this
this is the trade. You got a thirty year old
running back that wants a new contract, that's coming off

(40:48):
a cocaine suspension, and the Chargers say, we're gonna give
you one of the best all around players in the
game who was twenty five years old. It doesn't make sense,
but this is the trade that happened. How did the
trade go from then on? Oh? My goodness. For James Brooks,
he goes on and he becomes a Pro Bowl player.
For many years, Brooks was fantastic. He played eight seasons

(41:12):
in Cincinnati, and he was the same player he was
with the San Diego Chargers, up amongst the league leaders
all around yardage every single year. He was it. Suddenly,
James Brooks is putting air into the tires of the
Cincinnati Bengals, who, by the way, he helps them get
back to the Super Bowl a few years later when

(41:32):
he's at the end of his prime. Meanwhile, for Pete Johnson,
he plays three games with the Chargers, not three seasons.
Not three games for the Chargers, and then they got
rid of him. He went and played the final thirteen
games of the season with the Miami Dolphins and he
retired after that. You want to look back at the
annals of bad trades, worst trades ever. We talk a

(41:53):
lot about baseball trades and what happened and with with
teams and and you know, John Smaul, Doyle, Alexander or
whatever trade want to talk about. But James Brooks for
Pete Johnson NFL, that's up at the top. Well, don't forget.
James Brooks also went on to create the Simpsons. That's true.
That's true. Well, well he had to change his name
to James L. Brooks then, but but he added the L.
We had to bring in the middle initial. Uh, we're

(42:16):
just kidding folks on case you didn't recognize just the
brand of humor. But yeah, that that's gotta be about
it as bad as it goes, especially for a franchise
that would then become well they become one of the
laughing stocks. Unfortunately, two teams in Ohio carried that banner
for a lot of years, and your Jets, uh sorry

(42:38):
for years, but for the for the Bangles, and and
for the Chargers here this is this is where you're at.
The Bengals actually get over on one uh for one time,
and Charger fans are still looking for that elusive Super Bowl.
James Brooks made the Pro Bowl with the Cincinnati Bengals

(42:59):
four times after the trade. Four times he ran for
a thousand yards three times still caught a lot of
yards passing. This is back when running backs catching three
to four hundred yards and passes was a lot. You know,
this isn't Oh my goodness, he's at thousand yards. Say now,
this is when catching thirty to forty passes a year
was a very big deal. And James Brooks was that

(43:19):
good a player. He stayed with the team through and
even in his final year when he's thirty three years old,
he ran for almost six hundred yards and a couple
of touchdowns. He caught three fifty yards and passes. So
when he was at the end, the guy was productive.
And some of his big years with Cincinnati when he
was thirty and thirty one years old, twelve hundred yards rushing,
three hundred yards receiving. He was a star all the

(43:40):
way through the rest of the eighties, and I know,
the Chargers weren't winning the Super Bowl with him, but boy,
you get five and this guy becomes the lynch pinner
of your offense. Maybe you actually win one, maybe you
win one before Dan Fouts retires, but never got the
chance because this trade was made. And still you scratch
and and go, boyfriend, at least one moment in time,

(44:02):
the Bengals got over on another team. Yeah, I know
that hasn't happened much in the history. And we'll see
what happens in this this new world order with a
a new gun slinger brought to the team here in
and Joe Burrow. But you know, when when you look
at the Chargers, just a lot of what ifs. There's

(44:23):
been some great talents, uh that have come through that
organization and little pieces that are missing. Right, we talked
about this particular season with with Dan Fouts. Well, they
got beat up by the Bengals earlier in the season, right,
so he couldn't solve them in at home and he
and he gets blown out on the road. Uh. So

(44:45):
you have those kind of issues and you have the
high flying attack, and it's it's always hard when things
seem to be working. It's like all right, we're almost there,
but being able to pull the plug because we normally
see it the other way in sports, Right, where's the
You don't get nearly enough time to work? And I
mean that's certainly been one of the hallmarks of the

(45:06):
Bengals organization outside of Marvin Lewis's run. Is all right,
let's flip. That's the Browns, that's the Jets, that's a
number of NFL teams of all right, it's been two years.
We're not seeing the progress we want. Flip the coach,
Flip the GM quarterback. I'll get one more year. By
the way, it's his fourth offensive coordinator. Uh, and let's
keep flipping, because you always gotta have a fall guy here.

(45:29):
He ran with the high flying offense as much as
you could, but this was their their best shot. So
how about somewhere are they now from this game? Mr? Harmon,
what do you got for us? Oh? We got a
couple of good ones here, Willie Buchanan, Uh, doing virtual
office systems. He was ahead of the game before we
got to COVID nineteen and working remotely. Also some real

(45:50):
estate work. You got Lynden King thirteen years in the
league US. He was actually became a singer of a
country after he finished the linebacker for many years in
the National Football League. It was Wing and the Southern Steel.
That's pretty good name. I like that. That's pretty good. Uh.

(46:10):
And then they were down in uh, down in Tennessee,
down in Nashville for a while West Chandler Uh, founder
of w c t E w U c t E,
but working on bio pharmaceuticals to help with CTE traumatic
brain injuries. Uh et Centro. Uh. And then I got
to two big ones for you to finish. Uh. We've

(46:34):
got always Pat Pat Mcinally, you gotta show him love
because in this broadcast they brought up his Wonderlick test. Then, oh,
of course, because you can't bring up the wonder you
can't bring up Pat mc and I without saying only
player to get a perfect score in the Wonder. There's
a little bit in the telecast where you get that.
But the key is also he brought us the starting

(46:54):
lineup action figures, his brain child. So they sold an
estimated seven hundred million dollars worth of starting lineups. I
still have a Frank Thomas and I'm Michael Jordan's sitting
around here somewhere and at one point I had Wade Bobs. Wow.
Beyond that, Uh, he's got a played college uh foundation

(47:19):
that is trying to help economically challenge kids. Uh. They
help with test preparations. So the A C T and
S A T. So, so you certainly got that. And
then I wanted to finish with one that is really
big in the sporting year. Reggie Williams, linebacker. Fourteen years
in the league. He became the executive director of what

(47:41):
became the Walt Disney world Wide World. So he was
the first black vice president for Walt Disney World Sports Recreation.
Given the ability to create a vision of what that
space has become, and if it weren't for him, the
NBA season wouldn't have finished. You know, we have been

(48:03):
no bubble. I came up with the bubble. Oh that
was yeah, that was me. I was the bubble. But
that whole thing, right, setting up the the fields and
having that for the Braves for their you know, training,
and having all of those courts and fields for different
youth tournaments, all of that was part of his brain child.
He retired from Walt Disney World back in two thousand seven,

(48:26):
but it was his work and in researching for the podcast,
you know, you come up with some fun stories. Some
you know, you see players take tragic turns. We've certainly
talked about a number of those throughout our run here
on Special Teams and certainly on our show on Fox
Sports Radio. But occasionally you run into all right, let's
do somewhere are they now? And you know that guys

(48:47):
have gone on to success, But here you have one
that you know, hopefully he gets a couple of more nods.
He certainly got some here for having this this base
and vision to create that Disney Worldwide World of Sports complex.
But in the bubble, I think I think they should
probably pay a little more attention. Hey, let's go back

(49:10):
to the architects of this uh and make sure they
get their just do so there is your complete look
in the Freezer Ball, the Chargers fall to the Bengals
twenty seven to seven, and in the process the jury
still out on can a warm weather team throw the
football up and down the field and win the Super Bowl.
It would be years until you figured out, all right,

(49:30):
a team could do that without having to run it
while being so electric. The Charger's best chance to get
to the Super Bowl in those legendary air Corial Teams
was this day and it was the Cincinnati Bengals who
came out on top. You want to hit us up
for future Special Teams episodes? Hey on Twitter at how
about a Fresca Mike at Swollen Dome? Who knows? Maybe

(49:51):
your idea will make it into a future episode of
Special Teams. Our show was heard Monday through Friday on
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(50:16):
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(50:40):
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