When the Chicago Bears and San Francisco 49ers open their 2022-23 NFL season on Sunday, it looks like they’ll do it in less-than-ideal field conditions as the Soldier Field turf was nearly underwater during warmups ahead of Sunday afternoon’s game.
As Stacey Dales of NFL Network reports, heavy rain coupled with brand-new Bermuda grass has led to sloppy wet field conditions with water pooling on the playing surface.
The rain is pounding Chicago. Watch… @nflnetwork @NFLGameDay 🌧☔️ pic.twitter.com/a0F4MnShMK
— StaceyDales (@StaceyDales) September 11, 2022
We ken there would be rain in Chicago, we did not anticipate it coming down this hard,” Dales said. “What conditions that both quarterbacks have to play in. We expect a lot of running the football today.”
A video shared by Michele Steele of ESPN shows just how badly the water was pooling on the field during warmups.
New turf at Soldier Field getting a good soaking today pic.twitter.com/4DL4eZziPr
— Michele Steele (@MicheleSteele) September 11, 2022
The field conditions were so bad that Soldier Field grounds crew workers even had to push and squeegee that water off the playing surface.
So. Much. Water. 😳 pic.twitter.com/LcZnNg4iY1
— Will DeWitt (@Wi11DeWitt) September 11, 2022
And based on some warm-up throw attempts from San Francisco starter Trey Lance, the offenses aren’t going to be very successful through the air on Sunday.
Trey Lance meant to do this. pic.twitter.com/aZ6WQwkRfw
— Grant Cohn (@grantcohn) September 11, 2022
If the rain keeps falling like this and the field conditions don’t improve before kickoff, it looks like Sunday’s game could be quite a mess.
Fans had been blasting Soldier Field for its playing surface all preseason. But this was exactly what they had in mind.