Before more talk about "freezing" here in paradise because the temperature’s dipped into the 60s overnight recently, let’s consider the NFL playoffs.

You could call them warm-ups for the rest of the postseason culminating in the outdoors Super Bowl at the Meadowlands in the dead of winter — except there was nothing balmy about Sunday’s wild-card games, where teams from California faced the cold, hard truth on the road … and came away winners.

The 49ers are the most popular NFL team in Hawaii. The Chargers are also the favorite of many, especially now that they have linebacker Manti Te’o, who comes from Oahu’s North Shore, where the only thing freezing is the shave ice.

Te’o produced eight tackles in San Diego’s 27-10 win at Cincinnati. Having played at Notre Dame, Te’o is not a complete stranger to cold-weather football. The climate at Paul Brown Stadium wasn’t as bad as expected because a predicted storm never materialized, but it was still plenty chilly in the low 40s.

Meanwhile it was single-digit Fahrenheit and snowing in Denver, where the Broncos await the Chargers. But the extended forecast is for a high of 50 and low of 28 for next Sunday’s kickoff. Don’t forget, San Diego won at Mile High last month when it was 35 degrees.

That’s beach weather compared to what the 49ers dealt with at Green Bay, where Phil Dawson kicked a field goal as time ran out, delivering a 23-20 win. A 33-yarder is normally routine, but nothing is when you get below zero on the thermometer and the football feels like a brick on your foot, as Dawson said it does.

San Francisco quarterback Colin Kaepernick played it off, wearing no sleeves and saying, "It’s not that cold," afterward. The speedster doesn’t rely solely on his arm, so he doesn’t have to worry about the wind or precipitation affecting his passes as much as, say, Denver’s Peyton Manning does. Manning, who built most of his surefire Hall of Fame career indoors before joining the Broncos, struggles making some throws in challenging weather.

The 49ers play at Carolina on Sunday; Charlotte won’t be as cold as further north, but rain is expected at the Panthers’ outdoor Bank of America Stadium. Kaepernick played at Nevada, where the weather can get nasty for home games. As June Jones used to say about icy and rainy Reno in November, the offensive players know where they’re going and the defensive players have to react, so poor footing often actually helps the guys with the ball.

Fans are split on whether they like football better with good weather or bad. Count me with Nick Abramo of the Star-Advertiser sports staff, who says, "Give me mud, wind and snow any day."

Chuck Miske asks a fair question. "What if the game turns on a crucial botched snap or fumble or just a missed tackle due to the weather? Is that how we want to determine the best team on the field?"

But I’m OK with it. If I have to close the window and wear a T-shirt to bed to combat our mammoth cold front here, NFL players can deal with a little frostbite on the tundra.

Reach Dave Reardon at dreardon@staradvertiser.com or 529-4783. Read his blog at staradvertiser.com/quickreads.