It will be really cold — but Texans and Chiefs may catch a small break with Kansas City weather

For the second straight year, the Houston Texans have to go on the road for the divisional round of the playoffs and face one of the NFL’s best teams in frigid weather.

All things considered — at least weather-wise — it could be a lot worse for the Texans when they visit Kansas City’s Arrowhead Stadium to play the Chiefs.

A year ago, the Texans played in Baltimore on a week in which the city was shut down by a snowstorm. The skies cleared for the game and the Ravens won 34-10 on a night with temperatures in the 20s.

Kansas City is expecting temperatures to dip into the teens on Tuesday, but by the time the Texans-Chiefs kick off at 3:30 p.m. Saturday, the forecast currently calls for 25 degrees with no chance of precipitation. 

That’s really cold, of course, but there is an arctic blast expected to roll through the area late Saturday night or early Sunday morning that will making things even more bitterly cold, but it should be well after the game is finished. That front could drop temperatures below zero on Sunday with strong north winds that will make it feel even colder.

Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce said he wouldn’t mind if that cold front hits the stadium before kickoff.

“I love it when it’s just cold and snowy and you just get all the elements mixed into one. I’m not going to say that I’m hoping for that, but I definitely love it, because it adds a little bit more to how dramatic the game can feel,” Kelce said on The Pat McAfee Show on Monday. “But at the end of the day, I don’t care if it’s raining, snowing, if it’s at Arrowhead, somewhere else in the Wal-Mart parking lot, roll the balls out and let’s play some football, baby.”

In last year’s wild-card round, the Chiefs hosted the Dolphins on a brutal night in the wild-card round when it was 4-below at kickoff.

Things could be much uglier in the other AFC divisional matchup with the Ravens playing in Buffalo, where Sunday’s gameday forecast calls for temperatures in the teens and a 40% chance of snow showers.