The Fog Bowl
So I was reading about this game the other day. The Fog Bowl was a divisional playoff game between the Eagles and Bears at Soldier Field on December 31, 1988.
During the second quarter, dense fog rolled in and the visibility was cut down to less than 20 yards for the rest of the game. Despite this, Randall Cunningham had 407 passing yards for the Eagles. 247 of those yards were split between the fullback and tight end, so I’m guessing there were a lot of dink-and-dunks with high YAC.
Fans, stadium officials, and press had almost no idea what was going on. In order for Soldier Field’s PA announcer to be able to call the game, an usher was sent to the sideline with a 2-way radio.
As for the press, they had Terry Bradshaw as a sideline reporter:
Lundquist: “Cunningham will throw … or run. Sacked for the fourth time. Wait a minute …”
Bradshaw: “He got rid of the ball, Verne.”
Lundquist: “Must have. He completed it to somebody. And we’re not trying to make light of this, but it is actually impossible for us to see the field.”
But Mike Singletary said it best (as usual):
“It was the best game that a player could ever play, because you could do horribly and tell the coach you were doing great and come off the sideline and he would never know. And, of course, you didn’t have the film to show it”
The Bears won 20-12 and would go on to be knocked out of the playoffs by the Niners.
