In National Football League lore, the Freezer Bowl is the nickname given to the 1981 AFC Championship Game between the San Diego Chargers and the Cincinnati Bengals. The game was played on January 10, 1982, at Cincinnati's Riverfront Stadium, and televised by NBC, with announcers Dick Enberg and Merlin Olsen. The game, won by the Bengals, 27–7, was played in the coldest temperature in NFL history in terms of wind chill. Air temperature was , but the wind chill, factoring in a sustained wind of , was reported as under the calculation method then in use. Background Despite the Bengals’ dominating 40–17 win over the Chargers during the season, their meeting in the championship was expected to be a thrilling, hard-fought game. The Chargers' offense featured three future members of the Pro Football Hall of Fame: quarterback Dan Fouts, receiver Charlie Joiner and tight end Kellen Winslow. San Diego also had two superb running backs, Chuck Muncie, who led the NFL with 19 touchdowns, and multi-talented rookie James Brooks, who finished the season with 2,093 all-purpose yards. Cincinnati also had several stars on offense. Quarterback Ken Anderson, a two-time Pro Football Hall of Fame finalist, was the top rated passer in the NFL, and had won both the NFL Most Valuable Player Award and the NFL Comeback Player of the Year Award. Tight end Dan Ross, running back Pete Johnson, and rookie receiver Cris Collinsworth were widely considered to be among the best players in the NFL at their positions. The Bengals offensive line featured future Hall of Fame left tackle Anthony Muñoz, who was selected by NFL coaches as the NFL Lineman of the Year Award winner during the season. Both teams were coming off extremely narrow wins in the divisional playoffs. A week earlier, the Bengals won their first ever playoff game by defeating the Buffalo Bills 28–21 after forcing Buffalo to turn the ball over on downs during their final drive. Meanwhile, the Chargers narrowly defeated the Miami Dolphins in overtime 41–38, in a game that set playoff records for most points scored in a playoff game with 79, the most total yards by both teams with 1,036, and most passing yards by both teams with 809. That game, which became known as “The Epic In Miami”, was played in the heat and humidity of Miami, and the Chargers found themselves dealing with the exact opposite conditions