Bad weather seems to be following the Buffalo Bills around in 2022.
In Week 11, a snowstorm forced Buffalo to move a home game against Cleveland to Detroit. Last week, the Bills dealt with cold and late snow in a win over the Dolphins.
Heading to Chicago to face the Bears in Week 16, there is more brutal weather on tap.
A winter storm is barreling toward Chicago this weekend that has the chance to grow into a potential bomb cyclone, per The Weather Channel. Heavy snowfall is expected Thursday into Friday. Even if it dissipates before Saturday’s Bills-Bears game, continuations are expected to be ruthless. Current forecasts call for a high in the single digits with winds between 20 to 30 mph and gusts reaching over 40 mph.
Last week, offensive coordinator Ken Dorsey said the Bills prepared two game plans against Miami in the event snow affected play. He’ll do likewise heading to Chicago.
“It’ll be kind of similar to this week. We’ll do the same thing just so we’re not putting ourselves in tough situations,” Dorsey said Tuesday, via the team’s official website. “We always try and make sure we’ve got those contingency plans.”
Against the Dolphins, the snow didn’t begin streaming until late in the contest, but the Bills were prepared to adjust gears if needed.
“For last week, if there was snow accumulating on the ground, certain cuts with the receivers and tight ends we didn’t want to make in fear of going down and throwing the ball to a DB or something like that,” Dorsey said. “So, we took our game plan that we had and then we just cut out certain things and had those (new plays) in case we needed it for footing reasons more so than anything.”
Snow isn’t expected to linger into Saturday afternoon, but high winds could wreak havoc on passing the ball, particularly for a team that likes to stretch the field with Josh Allen‘s big arm.
“If it’s a high wind game, we’ll do the same thing and have a separate game plan if the wind is affecting us so we can go to those things that we feel better about in the wind,” Dorsey said.
The Bills can clinch the AFC East with a win over Chicago or a Dolphins loss to Green Bay in Week 16.