Wettest NFL Games Played

Here is a list of some of the wettest and wildest contests ever played in the NFL. So what constitutes a "Wettest NFL Game?" Well, water sure has an impact. We will keep this to the wet games with the temperature above 32 degrees F in modern times, though. Stay calm, a later edition of the series will cover the ice and snow games. 

December 16, 1979 -   This was a big game for the Tampa Bay franchise. With the team in its third year of existence, they had been up in the division late in the season. Their three-game lead over the Chicago Bears had quickly evaporated when the Bucs dropped three straight to the Vikings, Bears and 49ers. This final game with Kansas City coming to the Gulf Coast has real meaning as the Bears were ready to pounce on the division should Tampa Bay falter in a fourth consecutive game from a lofty 9-3 record to 9-6 and clinging by their fingernails on the edge of their playoff lives. Rainfall flowed down the Tampa Stadium steps like a waterfall during that year's first division championship game of the Bucs vs. Chiefs, according to a BucNation.com article passing just about impossible in the monsoon-like conditions. As a result, Tampa Bay pounded running backs Ricky Bell and Jerry Eckwood 52 times at the Kansas City defense. Even quarterback Doug Williams got into the act, adding another seven bootleg runs at the Bucs controlled 40:22 of the clock. The inept K.C. offense could not muster much of anything battling the weather and the stingy Bucs defense. They had only 80 yards of total offense! 
The Bucs won the game 3-0 to advance. They later knocked off the Eagles 24-17 in their first playoff game before falling to the L.A. Rams a week later.

October 4, 1998 - The Seattle Seahawks played the Kansas City Chiefs during one of Kansas City's worst floods on record. Two rounds of thunderstorms delayed the game's completion by an hour and drenched the metro area with around 5-6 inches of rain. Pre-game weather reports indicated that 3.66 inches of rain fell on the Kansas City area prior to the kick off. NFL officials then were forced to halt play shortly after 9PM local time as another batch of nasty clouds dropped even more of the wet stuff. With 7:10 left in the second quarter and the score knotted at 3-all. Halftime was cut in half to six minutes. Fans were told to go to the protected areas of the stadium for their own safety.

These viscious storms tragically took the lives of eleven people in the Kansas City area that evening.

When the game did finally resume the Chiefs hung on and won 17-6 in this water slogged showdown.

December 31, 1988 - The 1988 NFC Divisional game hosted by the Chicago Bears at Soldier Field with the Philadelphia Eagles visiting had another contestant, too, a thick fog. It was the Television Broadcasting nightmare as the fog was so thick that the visibility of the play was almost non-existent. It wasn't much better for the players either, as the Bears jumped out to a 17-6 halftime lead over their former Defensive Coordinator Buddy Ryan, who was now the head coach of the Eagles. Chicago continued to cash in on some Eagles errors in the second half as the Bears held out to win the iconic Fog Bowl 20-12, sealing it with a field goal.

November 26, 2007 - When the Miami Dolphins traveled north to Pittsburgh in an AFC battle, the ESPN Monday Night Football crowd was in for a very memorable sloppy game. Over one and a half inches of rain from a passing storm system on Pittsburgh's Heinz Field just before the Steelers hosted the Dolphins. The footing was so terrible the only point scored was a Steelers field goal late. Pittsburgh kicker Jeff Reed punched through a usually routine 24-yarder with 0:20 remaining in the contest. That lone scoring play stood as the Steelers triumphed 3-0. It was the lowest-scoring game ever played on Monday Night Football. I thought the Dolphins liked water. Well, I digress, but this game is one of the wettest NFL games ever played.

December 26, 1977 - There was on old song once titled, "It Never Rains in Sunny California." We the day after Christmas 1977 it sure did for the NFC Divisional Playoff game where the Vikings traveled to Southern California to match up against the Los Angeles Rams. A torrential rainstorm turned the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum field into a giant mud pit. Minnesota had a horse in this race that was a "mudder" that day. The Vikings thanks to 101 rushing yards from running back Chuck Foreman, wore away at the hometeam defense as they held a 14-0 advantage over the Rams late in the game. It seemed like it was all over, that is until Pat Haden directed a Los Angeles drive that resulted in a touchdown with a little more than a minute to play, scoring on a one-yard lob to Harold Jackson in the end zone. The Rams then made it much more interesting when they recovered the onside kick and moved to first down on the Minnesota 30 with seven seconds left. The fans in purple could finally take breath when Jeff Wright intercepted Haden's desperation pass inside the five-yard line to lock up the decision and help the Vikes to advance to the NFC Championship Game.

The picture in the banner above is from the U.S. Library of Congress photograph taken by photographer John Vachon circa 1941 and is called Pittsburgh in the Rain