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Longtime Kansas City Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker was on his way to becoming the hero against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers tonight — until he was the exact opposite.
The three-time Super Bowl winner accounted for all nine of Kansas City's points in the first half, connecting on field goals from 45 and 58 yards before drilling an incredible 69-yarder as time expired. Although the NFL doesn't count preseason statistics toward the record books, this would have been the NFL's longest-made field goal had it been tracked.
The kick sailed through the uprights with several yards of room to spare, giving K.C. a two-possession lead heading into halftime.
But Butker's strong night took a turn after the break, missing an important extra point following Emmett Johnson's touchdown run before pushing a 43-yard field goal wide right with just over three minutes remaining. The attempt came from the right hash and never hooked back toward the middle. Had he made it, the kick would have put the Chiefs up by two and potentially won them their first preseason game since August 2023.
Ironically, Butker's two misses came on his shortest attempts of the night, emphasizing the inconsistency that has crept into his game. Still, head coach Andy Reid made it clear after the contest that he has the utmost confidence in his kicker.
"I trust him. That happens," Reid said. "He'll learn from it and move on. He's made enough of the big ones for us. He's just got to make it. He'll make an adjustment there."
Reid has plenty of reason to feel that way, as Butker has delivered countless big kicks for the Chiefs. He sent them to the Super Bowl in 2023 with a game-winning field goal against the Bengals and forced overtimes in the 2022 divisional round against the Bills and the 2024 Super Bowl against the 49ers. His list of clutch moments in the red and gold goes on and on.
Butker is one of the league's more reliable legs, finishing 33-of-38 on field goals last season. However, that was the third-lowest conversion rate of his career, and he also missed four extra points and posted the worst PAT% of his career.
The leg strength is obviously still there for Butker to remain among the NFL's elite kickers, even if his accuracy has dipped somewhat from his peak. At 31 years old, he has plenty of his prime ahead of him, and Reid and the Chiefs clearly haven't lost faith in him despite tonight's up-and-down showing.
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