Frigid cold makes for eventful afternoon at Soldier Field

By Sean Hammond

Shaw Local News Network

Dante Pettis wore three shirts under his jersey. One regular T-shirt and two thermals. He wore two pairs of socks and stuffed feet warmers in his cleats. He wore latex gloves under his cold-weather football gloves. He stuffed hand warmers in those too. To top it all off, he wore a ski mask.

"And I was still cold," Pettis said Sunday at Soldier Field. "It didn't help a bit."

Pettis, a 27-year-old receiver who grew up in California, was far from alone.

The Bears lost to the Bills, 35-13, in the seventh-coldest game in Bears history. The temperature at kickoff was 9 degrees with a minus-12 wind chill. Winds were over 20 miles per hour with gusts in the 30s. It warmed up a couple degrees throughout the game, but not much.

Both teams had to battle the elements Sunday. The Bills could be looking at a weekend in Chicago with this week's winter storm now barreling down on Buffalo. The airport in Buffalo is scheduled to be closed until at least 11 a.m. Monday.

Throwing and kicking the football was a major challenge Sunday. Soldier Field is already a tough place to play on a regular day. The wind tends to swirl back and forth throughout the stadium thanks to its proximity to Lake Michigan. The 20 mile per hour gusts on Sunday didn't help.

Bills kicker Tyler Bass missed an extra point and a field goal. Bears kicker Cairo Santos made all his kicks, but the Bears were conservative and didn't try any field goals from too far.

"When you're sitting down (on the bench), your muscles are getting tight," Santos said of the cold. "So you've got to get up, walk around and stuff."

Safety Jaquan Brisker didn't wear any sleeves during the game. The rookie from Penn State played in plenty of cold weather games during college and growing up in the Pittsburgh area, so he didn't think Saturday was anything special.

"It seemed like my hands were getting cold, (my) face because I didn't put nothing on it," Brisker said.

Quarterback Justin Fields played without gloves. Neither quarterback passed for 200 yards in the game.

"I mean, it was crazy," Fields said. "It really impacted the whole game. From snaps to even tosses. The tosses (to the running back), you have to lock in on the tosses because they were flying. It definitely impacts the passing game, trying to figure out which way you want to throw the ball, which way the wind is blowing."

Kyler Gordon steps up again:

Bears rookie cornerback Kyler Gordon had his second interception in as many weeks when he picked off Buffalo quarterback Josh Allen near the goal line early in the game.

Gordon now has 3 interceptions on the season. Even though the Bears's defense struggled in the run game, it came up with three interceptions and forced a fumble against a high-powered Bills attack. Linebacker Nicholas Morrow also had an interception and linebacker Matt Adams forced a fumble.

Gordon wound up being the Bears' top cornerback on the depth chart after the team added Jaylon Johnson to injured reserve in a surprise move Friday. Johnson had been dealing with rib and finger injuries.

Gordon said he prepared all week to play nickel corner, but then had to shift outside when Johnson went out.

"I watched enough film to know what was going on on the outside," Gordon said. "Just switching out to the outside wasn't a problem."

Bills star receiver Stefon Diggs caught only 2 passes for 26 yards in the game. Gabe Davis had 45 yards and a touchdown on three catches. The Bears were playing with rookie Josh Blackwell on the field a lot, too, because of the absences of Johnson and Kindle Vildor (ankle).

Battered O-line:

The Bears were without two starters on the offensive line Saturday. Teven Jenkins (neck) and Cody Whitehair (knee) both sat out with injuries. Jenkins suffered a serious-looking neck injury a week ago against the Philadelphia Eagles and visited the hospital.

In place of the two starting guards, Michael Schofield started at right guard and Larry Borom started at left guard. Schofield has been a versatile backup all season. Borom began the year as the starting right tackle but has since taken a back seat to veteran Riley Reiff. For Borom, a fifth-round draft pick in 2021, this was his first significant reps at guard as a member of the Bears.

Schofield also briefly left the game with a thumb injury in the first quarter, but did return after missing only one possession. Dieter Eiselen stepped in at right guard when Schofield was out.