Arizona Forced To Close Stadium Roof After Hail Rains Down On Cardinals, Bears

Here’s a sentence I’m not sure that I ever expected to type: the Arizona Cardinals had to close the State Farm Stadium roof after hail started raining down during the second quarter against the Chicago Bears. 

When you hear that hail was a problem in a game between the Bears and Cardinals, surely the first thought is that the match must be in Chicago. But, no, it happened in Arizona on Sunday afternoon. 

The situation was strange for a few reasons. First, there’s the obvious of hail coming down in Arizona in early November. 

Second, did the Arizona Cardinals officials not have access to a weather report? If weather was expected to be an issue, why was the roof open in the first place? 

They have a retractable roof at State Farm Stadium, mainly to protect people from the heat when it gets too overwhelming in Glendale. 

In this case, though, it seems like the pertinent move was simply to close the roof prior to the start of the game. 

However, the Cardinals did not do that. Instead, the roof had to be closed during the game. 

 

(Getty Images)

The stadium’s roof takes 12 minutes to close, but they didn’t delay the game to shut it. Instead, the teams continued to play while the overhead cover slowly made its way across the entire venue. 

That all being said, maybe it was an elaborate plan by the Arizona Cardinals. Maybe they knew that Marvin Harrison, Jr. was going to fumble right as the hail started coming down. 

In that case, it was genius. The Bears’ offense had to deal with Hail and the Cardinals’ offense didn’t. By the time Arizona got the ball again, the roof was almost entirely closed. 

Still, the Bears managed to kick a field goal, so the weather didn’t prevent them from scoring entirely. 

Nice try, Arizona, but we see what you did there.