Seahawks gear up for Windy City weather

CHICAGO – The last time the Seattle Seahawks ventured upon this part of the country, the sun was out and some of the fans were stripping off their replica jerseys to get relief from the heat.

That was on Oct. 1, when the Chicago Bears played host to the Seahawks amid temperatures that approached 70 degrees.

It’ll be a whole new ballgame when the Seahawks set foot on Soldier Field’s natural grass for this afternoon’s rematch. The playoff game between Seattle and Chicago is expected to be played in snow flurries and near-freezing temperatures, as well as the wind for which this city is named.

While that might sound like a recipe for disaster for a team from the West Coast, cold weather has been a way of life for this year’s Seahawks.

“I don’t think the weather will be that much different than what we’ve played in the last couple of weeks,” said Seahawks coach Mike Holmgren, who has been to Soldier Field nine times as a head coach. “Now, I don’t think it’s going to be around zero (degrees). You get down to those (temperatures), and it becomes a little bit of a survival thing.

“But if it’s 30 degrees with flurries – whatever they are predicting there – that’s expected. We’ve played in it. I don’t think the weather will be an issue.”

As Holmgren should know, the Chicago cold can be even more piercing than anything Seattle has felt during the past month. The Bears like that home-field advantage, even if they don’t necessarily appreciate the biting cold.

“Once you are out there running around, your body warms up and you get used it,” Bears quarterback Rex Grossman said.

The Seahawks have lost seven of 10 times when the temperature is at or below freezing (32 degrees). But they’ve braved the elements this year, beating the Broncos at 16 degrees in Denver, and beating the Green Bay Packers in 34 degrees and snow flurries at Qwest Field.