It’s inevitable that some odd things will happen during a football game played in below-freezing weather, and Saturday’s wild-card game in Kansas City was no exception.

The game included many unusual occurrences, starting with the fourth-coldest kickoff temperature in NFL history at minus-4 degrees. The third-quarter hit on the Chiefs quarterback, Patrick Mahomes, caused his helmet to shatter partially, and Andy Reid’s mustache to grow icicles. The water promptly froze.

Mahomes chose to run on a second-and-7 play from Miami’s 16-yard line as he was unable to find an open receiver. The Chiefs quarterback managed to get approximately 12 yards before Dolphins safety DeShon Elliott hit him at the 3-yard line.

Elliott’s helmet made contact with Mahomes’ helmet, which caused a chunk of Mahomes helmet to break off.

At that point, the officials probably should have stopped the game so Mahomes could get a new helmet, but instead, they let the Chiefs run another play, and as you can see below, Mahomes was missing a solid chunk of his helmet on the play.

The helmet almost certainly shattered due to the frigid temperatures.

Mahomes told reporters postgame that he didn’t realize his helmet was broken until teammates told him, and that he wanted to stay in the game even with a cracked helmet.

“I didn’t know what happened in the moment but I got in the huddle and everyone was telling me, but I was like, ‘I got y’all, but I’m not coming out of the game, so we can figure it out on the sideline,'” Mahomes said. “It was a first for me.”

The business that manufactured Mahomes’ helmet, VICIS, issued a statement regarding the event on Tuesday:

“Athlete safety is our first concern at VICIS. Conditions as harsh as the one that occurred during the NFL playoff game on Saturday night will undoubtedly push even the best-performing items to their limits. The ZERO2 helmet performed its duty of shielding Patrick Mahomes following a head-on collision in unusually low temperatures, even though outer shell damage is not ideal. The VICIS ZERO2 helmet model’s unique multi-layer technology consists of a strong inner shell sandwiched between an RFLX impact absorption layer and a flexible outer shell.

This design strategy efficiently absorbs and disperses impact pressures at the point of contact, much like the crumple zone of contemporary cars.This technology, which has earned the top ratings of the NFL Performance Testing rankings and sits atop the Virginia Tech ratings, has been adopted by several athletes across the NFL, NCAA, and throughout high school and youth football.”VICIS helmets are extensively tested in high-impact conditions across a wide range of temperatures. We are committed to continuing our development of the safest helmets in football and working with our partners in the NFL and other organizations to constantly gain knowledge and continuously advance protective technology. We remain focused on protecting athletes at every level of play by developing the highest performing products available. As the leader in technology advancement within the football protective space, our confidence in the superior performance of our helmet designs has never been greater.”

The aftermath of the play was slightly confusing, because not only was the Chiefs QB allowed to stay on the field, but there was no flag for helmet-to-helmet contact (it could have been thrown on Elliott or even Mahomes for initiating contact) and Mahomes wasn’t forced to leave the game to be checked for a concussion. As NBC rules analyst Terry McAuley noted, at the minimum, Mahomes should have been forced to leave the game for at least one play to get a new helmet.

The Chiefs ended up getting a Harrison Butker field goal on the drive to push their lead to 19-7. If you want the latest updates from the battle between the Chiefs and Dolphins, be sure to check out our live blog by clicking here.