ESPN never met a football broadcast cliche it didn’t beat to death. Monday night’s game gave the network ample ammo: Historic rivals meet with the playoffs on the line and the weather producing historically cold conditions. Here are some moments we expected to see and how long it took ESPN to talk about or show them after the 7:30 p.m. start.
First use of the word “frigid”
Less than 1 minute
First mention of former Green Bay quarterback Brett Favre
4 minutes
First joke about the cold weather from ESPN’s Tony Kornheiser
14 minutes
First Christmas reference
18 minutes
First mention of the ice rink being built at Wrigley Field
20 minutes
First close-up image of a bundled up fan
21 minutes
First image of a shirtless/underdressed fan
49 minutes
First video of inspirational talk from a coach/motivational speaker
1 hour, 27 minutes: No video, but a mention of the Bears needing a motivational halftime speech
