First postseason visit from Dallas since “Ice Bowl”
GREEN BAY—By virtue of their wild-card victory over the Detroit Lions on Sunday afternoon, the Dallas Cowboys (13-4) have earned a trip to Lambeau Field to take on the Packers (12-4) in the NFC divisional playoffs on Sunday, Jan. 11.
Kickoff is slated for 12:05 p.m. CT, and the game will be televised nationally on FOX.
This will mark the Cowboys’ first postseason visit to Green Bay since the “Ice Bowl” on Dec. 31, 1967, which the Packers won on Bart Starr’s famous quarterback sneak for a touchdown in the waning seconds.
Since then, the Packers have lost four straight playoff games against the Cowboys, all in Dallas. The last three were in consecutive seasons, from 1993-95, with the final one coming in the 1995 NFC title game.
The Packers, who had a first-round playoff bye as the NFC’s No. 2 seed, are 2-4 all-time against the Cowboys in the postseason.
The Packers are 8-0 at home this season; the Cowboys are 8-0 on the road.
Dallas enters the game on a five-game winning streak. The Cowboys haven’t lost since falling to the Eagles on Thanksgiving Day in Dallas. They won their final four regular-season games to win the NFC East and earn the conference’s No. 3 seed.
The Packers enter the playoffs on a two-game winning streak, beating the Lions in Week 17 to clinch their fourth straight NFC North crown.
The early forecast for next Sunday has the temperatures in the high teens with light winds and only a slight chance for snow. It won’t be another “Ice Bowl,” when the game-time temperature was minus-13 and the wind chills much worse than that, but it will be the coldest game Dallas has played in this season.
The coldest game-time temperature for the Cowboys in 2014 was 35 degrees in a Thursday night victory at Chicago on Dec. 4. The wind chill was 31.
The last time the Packers and Cowboys met in the regular season was last year, a 37-36 come-from-behind victory for Green Bay with backup QB
Matt Flynn
filling in for an injured
Aaron Rodgers
. The Packers rallied from a 26-3 halftime deficit to get the win, tying the largest comeback in franchise history.
The Dallas-Green Bay winner will advance to the NFC Championship and face the winner of the Carolina-Seattle game being played next Saturday night.
If top-seeded Seattle advances, the Seahawks will host the NFC title game on Sunday, Jan. 18. If the Panthers beat the Seahawks, the Cowboys-Packers winner will host the conference championship.
