Will the cold play a factor vs. the Los Angeles Rams? The Chicago Bears aren't banking on it

In the NFC Wild Card round, the Chicago Bears had a reminder of what winter is like near the lakefront.

Less than two hours before kickoff, snow swirled and covered Soldier Field. Just as the snow hit the players pregame, it was gone. The green turf was on display as if it never snowed at all.

The unpredictability of Chicago in the winter baffles all. Not the Bears, though. They welcomed it.

"To us, it's ‘Bear weather.’ It was like, come on with it, this is awesome," Bears special teams coordinator Richard Hightower said.

"Bear Weather" has been a topic this entire week because of the Bears’ Divisional Round opponent. Will the Los Angeles Rams, who hail from sunny California and play in the domed SoFi Stadium, struggle in the frigid weather? Do the Bears have an advantage because of it?

Depending on who you asked at Halas Hall this week, you got different answers.

What they're saying:

CJ Gardner-Johnson was very matter-of-fact about the cold weather on Thursday.

Standing at his locker at Halas Hall, Gardner-Johnson didn’t have critical thoughts on the Rams and their potential struggles in the weather Sunday night.

"We talking about weather, whooptie do," Gardner-Johnson said.

Gardner-Johnson doesn’t care too much about anything outside of the actual game giving the Bears an advantage. He knows the Rams fairly well, too.

In the 2024 playoffs, Gardner-Johnson played the Rams in the Divisional round when he was a member of the Philadelphia Eagles. Gardner-Johnson and the Eagles held off the Rams 28-22.

He said that Rams team was talented, but now they’re a year older.

Last year in Philly, the forecast was projected to have below-freezing temperatures with chances of snow reaching as high as 85 percent. On Sunday, the temperatures will struggle to reach 20 degrees and both teams will need to be prepared for gusty southwesterly wind. Those gusts will likely send wind chills down to the single digits leading up to the game.

Temperatures at night could feel like a minus-13 degrees.

However, to Gardner-Johnson, the Rams and Bears won’t feel added effects from the weather.

The stakes at hand will affect the game enough.

"Weather don't affect nobody," Gardner-Johnson said. "If you ask me, I feel like when it's win or go home, that's what affects you more than the weather."

The other side:

Still, the Bears could have the advantage this weekend. 

It’s been 70 degrees all week in Los Angeles. Under head coach Sean McVay, the Rams have a 2-2 record in games played at freezing temperatures. They beat the Broncos in 2018 and New York Jets in 2024, but lost to the Bears in 2018 and Packers in 2022.

The Bears are 2-1 in games played below freezing this season alone. The team is also acclimated to the frigid temperatures because of how head coach Ben Johnson has had the Bears practicing in the winter.

"Our body are very acclimated to it now.," Bears safety Kevin Byard said. "I think Ben has been doing a good job of making us practice in this cold weather with no heat. No heaters on the field, which has been a complaint for the most part for a lot of guys. But I think in these scenarios in this time of the year, you're looking back on us like, ‘hey man, it actually might be good that we didn't have any heaters because our body's going to be fully acclimated to this weather.’ 

The Bears played the Browns in a game where the temperature at kickoff was eight degrees.

The Rams do have players like Davante Adams, who spent eight years in Green Bay before joining the Rams, and quarterback Matthew Stafford, who spent 12 years in Detroit before getting traded to Los Angeles.

The Bears aren’t counting on a "Bear Weather" advantage. But they’re ready in case the weather does help them,

"Is that going to make a huge difference for the Rams? Who knows," Byard said. "Obviously, everybody's not from Illinois. People are from Florida, Texas, whatever it be. They don't like being in the cold, so maybe it'll affect them as well."