Fog Bowl (American football)

In American football, the Fog Bowl was the December 31, 1988 National Football League (NFL) playoff game between the Philadelphia Eagles and Chicago Bears. A dense fog rolled over Chicago's Soldier Field during the 2nd quarter, cutting visibility to about 15–20 yards for the rest of the game. The Eagles moved the ball effectively all game and their quarterback Randall Cunningham recorded 407 passing yards despite the low visibility; but they could not advance the ball into the end zone. Many players complained that they could not see the sidelines or first-down markers.^[1] The Bears ended up winning the game by a score of 20–12.^[2] The game eventually was named #3 on NFL Top 10's Weather Games.^[3]

The game was also notable in that it involved head coaches who had previously worked on the same staff of a Super Bowl winning team. Eagles coach Buddy Ryan had been the defensive coordinator for Mike Ditka on the Bears when the team won Super Bowl XX. An NFL Network special on the game highlighted how unusual the conditions were: the fog was caused by a very rare late-December mix of cold and hot air in the atmosphere, and the fog itself covered a very small part of Chicago (less than 15 city blocks) for a very short amount of time (less than three hours). If the game had been played in the late afternoon or at night, there would have been no fog during the game at all.