One of the biggest factors affecting NFL games is extreme weather, which comes in many forms. We wanted to find out which NFL teams perform the best in different weather conditions, specifically heatwaves, rain, freezing temperatures, and snow.

From causing dehydration and exhaustion to limiting visibility and making football fields difficult to navigate, the weather can really do a number on the performance of an NFL team. With this in mind, let’s take a look at which NFL teams deliver the best results come rain or shine.

Our methodology

This dataset ranks all 32 NFL teams, based on how good they are for winning in different weather conditions. To do this, we looked at all the games on nflweather.com between 2009 to 2023.

The data is then ranked based on Win % from highest to lowest.

The factors used are as follows:

• Games Played in each weather condition
• Average Temperature in each weather condition
• Win Percentage in each weather condition
• Points Per Game in each weather condition

All data is correct as of November 2023. The ranking data shown is a compilation of multiple data sources and may not be representative of real life.

Heatwave: Which team performs the best?

Let’s start with the top performing NFL teams during heatwaves. For some people, performing daily tasks in the heat can be a struggle, never mind playing top-level football in sweltering conditions with those pads as extra layers.

These teams clearly don’t allow unrelenting heat to hamper their games.

Top performing NFL teams during heatwaves

At the top of the ranking is the Pittsburgh Steelers with a win percentage of 75% from their 20 games whilst playing in heatwave conditions. Their average heatwave temperature during games was 87.2 degrees and they achieved an average of 24 points per game, putting them firmly at the top when it comes to performing in the heat.

Following closely behind, it’s the Baltimore Ravens, whose record in heatwave conditions was a very respectable 69.7%. Though they came second overall, the Ravens actually have the highest average points per game at 25.5 in these conditions.

The Los Angeles Rams, Kansas City Chiefs & Green Bay Packers made up the top five having a win percentage above 60% each respectively.

Unsurprisingly, the Arizona Cardinals have played the most games in heatwave conditions (90), considering the state broke records for high temperatures in 2023, it doesn’t come as a shock that the Cardinals have had to endure these conditions more than any other team in the NFL.

They share the most played fixture in these conditions with the Los Angeles Chargers, although New York Giants vs Dallas Cowboys & Houston Texans vs New York Saints also take that record, meeting each other seven times in these conditions.

Despite the tough conditions, teams generally perform well averaging a total of 21.2 points per game across the NFL.

However, for some teams, playing in the heat simply just gets to them.

Cleveland Browns supporters must be the only team in the NFL who don’t want gameday sun, seeing their team just win 23.5% when playing in overly warm temperatures.

It is worth noting that the Browns (along with the Detroit Lions) played the least number of games in heatwave conditions since 2009 (17).

Rainy conditions

We all know a wet football field, and football for that matter can really hamper performance, not to mention constant rain often limiting visibility and line of sight. Let’s start with the top 5 NFL teams that don’t seem to mind playing when it’s raining cats and dogs.

Top performing NFL teams during rainy conditions

The Seattle Seahawks take number one spot with a 77.8% winning percentage in rainy conditions, narrowly above the Baltimore Ravens whose win percentage was 0.5% worse off.

However, the Ravens have actually played more games in the rain over the years (22) which was the most of any NFL team.

The Houston Texans and New England Patriots both had win percentages above 70% with the Kansas City Chiefs making up the top five.

Bear in mind that though the New Orleans Saints came in at number 11 for winning percentage, they have the highest number of points per game in rainy conditions at 29.8.

This was much higher than the overall average points per game in the NFL which stands at 20.2.

The Detroit Lions vs Los Angeles Chargers was the most common fixture in these conditions (4).

At the other end of the dataset, the Green Bay Packers had the worst win percentage in rainy conditions, with just a measly 14.3%.

In contrast to their performance in heatwave conditions, the Arizona Cardinals had the joint worst points per game in the rain, along with the Los Angeles Chargers (12.8).

Freezing conditions

Playing sport in the cold can be tricky having to warm your body up enough to not let the low temperatures affect your game. However, these temperatures can also have a major impact on NFL games.

Aside from the field potentially being slippery, handling the football is trickier with cold hands, which can lead to more fumbles. Still, some teams bring their A-game even when it comes to playing in freezing conditions.

Top performing NFL teams during freezing conditions

The New England Patriots are no strangers to cold weather, so it may not come as a surprise that they ranked number one with a win average of 72.4%. Their average points scored per game was 28.6 which was the highest in the dataset and significantly higher than the average across the league (21.0).

The Buffalo Bills were just behind in second place having won 72.0% of their games, but they had a much lower average temperature of 19.8 in those fixtures.

The Pittsburgh Steelers (68%), Green Bay Packers (63.6%) & Minnesota Vikings (62.8%) all made up the top five with respectable winning percentages in the frosty conditions.

The Green Bay Packers also played the greatest number of games in freezing conditions – 44 in total whereas at the other end of the spectrum, the Los Angeles Chargers, Arizona Cardinals, Jacksonville Jaguars and Washington Commanders each only played four games in freezing conditions.

The Seattle Seahawks are the worst performing team across the NFL in freezing conditions, with a win percentage of just 12.5%.

In those eight games, they’ve only managed to score an average of 16.4 points, however it wasn’t the worst in the league with the Atlanta Falcons only scoring an average of 14.2 points.

Snowy conditions

Heavy snow has a particularly big influence on whether or not an NFL game goes ahead. In fact, there have only been 42 NFL games in snowy conditions since 2009.

As a result, many teams haven’t played enough games in snowy conditions for there to be any valuable data, and ten teams haven’t played any at all. For instance, the Miami Dolphins, Dallas Cowboys and Los Angeles Rams all have a 100%-win ratio, but that’s because they each only played one game in the snow.

However, there are two teams that deserve a mention when it comes to NFL games in snowy conditions, as they’ve each played 11 games in the testing conditions.

The impressive team in this instance is the Minnesota Vikings, having achieved a 72.7%-win percentage from their 11 games in snowy conditions and scoring an average of 25.6 from those games.

For the Buffalo Bills, they had a 36.4%-win percentage from their 11 games in snowy condition, but they did average 21.2 points in those games.

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