Mark Woods: Jags fans aren't fair weather — they've sat through heat, rain and Urban Meyer

I recently talked to a friend in Wisconsin about his trip to Jacksonville last September to watch the Packers play at TIAA Bank Field.

“Sitting in the sun I felt like a brat on the grill,” he said. “How do Jaguars fans do that?”

He’s been to many a frigid game at Lambeau Field in Green Bay. He said he’d take one of those games any day over what he experienced in Jacksonville. He recalled ending up sitting on the ground in one of the concourses, feeling dizzy. And he swore it wasn’t even from the flask he sometimes takes to Lambeau.

“I was drinking water,” he said. “I was toast just from tailgating in that heat.”

Jaguars want stadium with shade? Look at what Dolphins did in Miami — without tax dollars

Mark Woods: The jeers of a clown at Sunday's Jaguars game? Not from Pinkie Bee

When I asked him if he’d describe Jaguars fans as among the “weakest” in the NFL, I think he spit out his Spotted Cow.

For reference, that’s a Wisconsin beer. I bring this up now because it’s the opening week of another NFL season. And because during the offseason, an online betting site surveyed more than 1,000 NFL fans, asking them which fan base they think is toughest.

The results were predictable — i.e., cold equals tough, warm equals pampered.

Packers fans were voted toughest, followed by supporters of the Buffalo Bills, New England Patriots, Pittsburgh Steelers and Chicago Bears.

The weakest? Miami Dolphins fans topped that list, followed by Dallas Cowboys, Los Angeles Rams, Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Arizona Cardinals and – with the 6th weakest fans — the Jacksonville Jaguars.

“Fans of these teams are seen as the biggest babies when it comes to facing unfavorable weather conditions,” said offers.bet, the site that did the survey. “Used to sun, heat and humidity, fans of all three Florida fan bases probably wouldn’t do well at a game where jackets might be required.”

Try surviving September game in Florida

As someone who grew up a few snowball throws from Lambeau, but has lived in Florida for 30 years — and been to hundreds of NFL games in this state (almost all of them in air-conditioned press boxes) — I have say to those surveyed: Come to Florida for a 1 p.m. kickoff in September.

This isn’t to discount the toughness of Packers fans. They deserve that reputation. But they do have a whole arsenal of tools to stay warm in cold games. Snowmobile suits, foot warmers, hand warmers, so many layers that they resemble Joey in the episode of “Friends” where he wears all of Chandler’s clothes.

Remember the scene in “Christmas Story” where Ralphie’s little brother is so bundled up that he can’t put his arms down? That’s NFL gameday attire in a lot of places.

It’s harder to stay cool in extreme heat —  on and off the field.

Take when the Patriots came to Jacksonville in September 2018. The temperature at kickoff set records for both franchises.

How hot was it?

So hot that Blake Bortles beat Tom Brady.

OK, in meteorological terms, it was 97 degrees, with a heat index of 107.

The announcers kept talking about how hard that heat was for the players. Which undoubtedly it was. But anyone who sat in the sun for that one —  luxury boxes don’t count —  deserves some kind of award. Maybe a personal misting fan.

Lightning, hurricanes and Urban Meyer

Yes, inevitably some fans in Buffalo or Chicago will end up standing there shirtless in freezing weather. Psst. That’s not a sign of toughness. That’s something that can be traced to another statistic: blood-alcohol levels the same as the temperature.

Sure, Chiefs fans are tough, but do they ever have to prepare for rain of Biblical proportions?

I guess some of them did when they came to Florida for a game in 1979.

On the final day of the regular season, Tampa was hit with a deluge of rain, turning the field into a slip-and-slide. The game included seven fumbles. The Bucs, needing a victory to earn their first playoff berth, only scored on a 19-yard field goal in the fourth quarter. Which was plenty. Those were the only points in a 3-0 game.

It was dubbed the Monsoon Bowl. And the most enduring NFL Films footage isn’t of the play on the field. It’s of the stands, a sea of fans in orange poncho-clad fans, waterfalls cascading down the stairs.

How about lightning? In 2014, the Packers came to Florida to play the Buccaneers. Shortly after Aaron Rodgers led a 20-3 victory, a lightning strike hit a parking lot outside the stadium after the game. Seven people were injured. One victim, a Packers fan, reportedly said, “I took one for the team.”

And if heat and humidity aren’t enough at the start of NFL season, this is the heart of hurricane season.

That’s how the Packers fans ended in Jacksonville a year ago. With Hurricane Ida heading toward New Orleans, the Packers-Saints games was moved here.

After the Packers lost 38-3, there were questions about whether the players wilted in the heat.

I don’t know about the players. I know some of the NFL’s toughest fans did.

And if you want to talk toughness, how about Jaguars fans sitting through some epically bad home games the last few years? Those definitely are not fair-weather fans.

The Jaguars open this season on the road at Washington (home of the 10th weakest fans, according to that survey) before returning to Jacksonville for a 1 p.m. kickoff against the Colts on Sept. 18.

For those Jaguars fans who have toughed it out through everything in recent years — heat, rain, fleeting Urban Meyer — may you get cloud cover in September and meaningful games in January.

mwoods@jacksonville.com

(904) 359-4212

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Survey says fans of Dolphins, Buccaneers, Jaguars among NFL's weakest