NFL Week 16 weather update: A complete guide to how games will be impacted by winter storm on Christmas Eve

Severe winter weather sweeping the country this week won’t just have a big impact on your holiday travel plans, but possibly all of your NFL rooting interests.

If blizzard conditions, frigid temperatures and high winds impact the Midwest and East as projected, Saturday could be the most impactful NFL weather day on record. With playoff lives, fantasy championships and more, at stake, we’ve got you covered on the potential fallout on the impacted games. Let’s just say, anytime you hear the phrases “bomb cyclone” and “polar vortex”, it’s probably a good idea to check your fantasy lineup again, for starters.

Eight games on Saturday are currently scheduled for kickoff temperatures below 35 degrees. We’ll break down each below, but first, you have to know this isn’t just any other December weekend.

• There’s seven games scheduled to be played in freezing temperatures, which would tie the most in a single day since 2000.
• There’s six games scheduled to be played in freezing temperatures and 10-plus mile per hour winds, which would be two more games than any other single day since at least 2000.

How could this impact the overall NFL landscape?

Cold weather has little impact on league scoring. Since 2000, league-wide scoring drops less than two points per game in freezing temperatures, while passing and rushing numbers don’t move significantly.

Wind has more of an impact on offensive production, especially if it hits 15-plus miles per hour. In those games, you lose about a touchdown compared with indoor games, and four points from an average game. Saints-Browns and Bills-Bears are currently the games in that territory.

The impact of both cold weather combined with wind can be truly detrimental to an offense. Forty-four games since 2000 have featured freezing temperatures and 15-plus mile per hour winds. Those games averaged 37.9 points per game. To put that into perspective, of the 32 teams, only the Broncos see a lower combined scoring average in their games this year.

Our experts, Chris Towers (fantasy), R.J. White (betting), and myself (facts/playoff stakes), dive into each cold game and the impacts across the board. 

All forecasts provided by AccuWeather.

• 11 degrees,…