Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes had his helmet shattered on a hit from Miami Dolphins safety DeShon Elliott during Saturday night's frigid AFC wild-card playoff game. The Chiefs still won 26-7.
With a game-time temperature of minus-4 degrees Fahrenheit, the game was the fourth-coldest in NFL history, and it was unclear whether the temperature made the shell of Mahomes' helmet more brittle than usual. Regardless, the reigning league MVP was left with a fist-sized chunk of plastic missing from just above his left eye after the clash of helmets on a 13-yard scramble deep in Dolphins territory.
Rarely do helmets fail in such a manner. But then again, rarely is it below zero at kickoff of a football game.
Mahomes ran two more plays before officials made him get a backup helmet from the sideline. He threw another incomplete pass and Kansas City kicked a field goal on fourth down to take a 19-7 lead, and Mahomes spent the ensuing Miami possession fiddling with the replacement helmet on the sideline in an effort to make it comfortable.
It was wind gusts, whipping through at more than 25 mph and driving the wind chill to a bone-rattling minus-27 degrees, that made the weather truly miserable for just about everyone.
That included pop star Taylor Swift, who once again turned up to see her boyfriend, Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce.
She at least got to watch from an enclosed suite. Most fans huddled outside in parkas, ski goggles and snow pants, and players huddled around heaters on the sidelines as if they were an oasis in the cold. The National Weather Service issued a warning for what it called "dangerously cold" weather that had blanketed the Midwest.
The icy winter weather has blanketed much of the U.S. New York Gov. Kathy Hochul warned of a "dangerous storm" as she announced that the Buffalo Bills-Pittsburgh Steelers NFL playoff game was postponed from Sunday to Monday. Residents of the county that includes Buffalo were told to stay off the roads starting at 9 p.m. Saturday, with the forecast calling for 1 to 2 feet or more of snow and winds gusting as high as 65 mph.