HOUSTON — His eyes watched the ball, soaring end over end, sail to the right of the uprights. His body immediately slumped, his head bowed in disappointment. For a few seconds Sunday, Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker stood in place in the middle of the field inside NRG Stadium, his hands on his hips, his exhale full of dejection before he had to look at his teammates and start apologizing.
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One could argue that moment just before the end of regulation — even though the Chiefs would go on to beat the Houston Texans in overtime — was the lowest in Butker’s six-year career.
Butker’s miss from 51 yards in the final minute of the fourth quarter, a potential game winner, was the fifth field goal attempt he has missed this year, the most in his career for a single season. Even more troubling for the Chiefs is that Butker has missed two field goal attempts in the fourth quarter in two of the past three games. In the Chiefs’ 27-24 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals earlier this month, Butker missed a potential score-tying field goal attempt from 55 yards out, that ball also sailing just wide right.
Although Butker didn’t talk to reporters after Sunday’s game, coach Andy Reid did his best to express loyalty and faith toward his kicker, the same kicker who helped the Chiefs win the Super Bowl in 2019 and make another Super Bowl appearance the next year.
“Being a kicker is a little bit like being a batter (in baseball); sometimes you get into a slump,” Reid said. “But he’s a great one. He’ll get through it. He’ll come out of it even better than he was. But you’ve got to keep kicking. That’s what we’re going to do with him.”
The Chiefs FG attempt is no good. Going to OT in Houston?
📺: #KCvsHOU on CBS
📱: Stream on NFL+— NFL (@NFL) December 18, 2022
Two questions looming over Reid and special teams coordinator Dave Toub, with perhaps less than a month before the Chiefs begin their postseason run, are inquiries they really haven’t had to consider before in Butker’s career: What is their kicker’s effective range, and can they trust him in the final minutes of a close win-or-go-home game?
The most telling statistics for Butker, who has kicked in 10 of the Chiefs’ 14 games this season, is that he has been strong on field goals from 39 yards or less; he has made 11 of 12 attempts from that range. From 40 yards or longer, Butker is just 5-for-9.
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“His confidence is where it needs to be,” Toub said earlier this month after Butker’s miss against the Bengals. “He just didn’t get the draw on the ball that he normally does. It kind of just stayed out there. He normally has a draw on his kick. He just didn’t hit it solid for him. That’s why he missed it.”
Butker is the NFL’s 10th-highest-paid kicker, according to Over the Cap, because he possesses two of the most coveted attributes at the position: rare power, and the ability to thrive in clutch situations.
In 12 postseason games, Butker has made 15 of his 18 field goal attempts, the most significant being the 49-yard kick he made at the end of regulation in the AFC divisional round last season, a moment that helped the Chiefs rally past the Buffalo Bills.
However, Toub knows Butker might not be the same kicker he was a year ago.
Butker’s season became more complicated than usual on opening day in a road game against the Arizona Cardinals. Early in that game, he suffered a sprained left ankle when he slipped on the turf inside State Farm Stadium while planting his left foot for a kickoff. Butker showed toughness that day, having his foot and ankle retaped so he could return to the field, then making an impressive 54-yard field goal despite taking just one step on his approach, a rarity for kickers. But Butker’s injury forced him to miss the next four games.
“It’s something that’s going to be lingering all year,” Toub said of Butker earlier this month. “I don’t think it’s going to go away, but he’s handling it well.”
The best moment this season for Butker occurred Oct. 16 in his return from the injury. Against the Bills, he set a franchise record when he made a 62-yard field goal with relative ease. Even before the ball sailed through the uprights, Butker turned his back to it, waiting for his teammates to congratulate him.
FIRST GAME BACK. FRANCHISE RECORD. @buttkicker7
— Kansas City Chiefs (@Chiefs) October 16, 2022
He first did such a celebration in September 2020, when he made a game-winning 58-yard field goal to propel the Chiefs over the Los Angeles Chargers in overtime. At the time, the Chiefs had the NFL’s version of the “Splash Brothers,” the duo of superstars in point guard Steph Curry and shooting guard Klay Thompson of the Golden State Warriors, arguably the greatest and most prolific pair of 3-point shooters in NBA history.
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For the Chiefs, superstar quarterback Patrick Mahomes remains the team’s version of Curry, the league’s most talented quarterback. But in early November, Butker, the team’s version of Thompson, expressed frustration in missing a field goal attempt in three consecutive games, explaining that he hadn’t regained full flexibility and strength in his ankle.
“With any injury, you have to adapt,” Butker said then. “Your body is going to feel different. How do you respond to that? I can’t just go out and kick a ton of balls in practice or in the warmup because that could lead to hurting something.”
The distance on Butker’s field goals hasn’t been a problem. The issue is his accuracy. Entering this season, Butker was one of the league’s most accurate kickers, having a success rate of 88.9 percent or higher each year. This season, Butker has made just 76.2 percent of his field goal attempts.
Since early November, after the Chiefs’ bye week, Butker has searched for consistency with the precision of his kicking techniques, such as where his right foot strikes the ball and the ball’s trajectory toward the goal posts. When attempting a field goal from 40 yards away or farther, Butker has struggled to find the appropriate balance between being more meticulous with his technique and staying aggressive with his rare power to reach optimum accuracy.
#Chiefs K Harrison Butker missed a 47-yard FG and an extra point in Sunday night's win over the Titans. He sustained an ankle injury in Week 1 and had this to say about how he's feeling today
— McKenzie Nelson (@McKenzieMNelson) November 9, 2022
A few hours after Sunday’s game, former Chiefs punter Dustin Colquitt presented perhaps another reason to explain why Butker’s accuracy has been inconsistent. Colquitt, who was Butker’s holder from 2017 to ’19, tweeted that some of the responsibility is on punter Tommy Townsend, who has been the Chiefs’ holder since he entered the league in 2020. Just before halftime against the Texans, Butker missed an extra-point attempt. Colquitt was disappointed in how Townsend didn’t turn the ball’s laces fully away from Butker’s right foot, a mistake he has noticed at times this season.
“He’s an exceptional punter,” Colquitt tweeted of Townsend. “If you look back at the holds on the extra point, the laces are facing the sidelines. On the missed 50+ yarder, he pulled the ball to him at the last second and forced the ball to go to the right. He’s been missing the spot all year.”
In another tweet, Colquitt added: “Big fan of his punting (very exceptional actually). His holding is very average.”
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But against the Bengals, Townsend had one of his best holds of the season. Townsend caught the low snap from long snapper James Winchester and was able to put the ball in the proper place and spin it to keep the laces away from Butker just before the kick was attempted. Toub said Townsend’s part of the three-man operation on that play was outstanding.
“He had to spin the laces at the last second,” Toub said of Townsend. “It ended up being a perfect hold. But yeah, Butker sees that the ball is low before he goes. Now Butker just has to make the kick.”
Inside the visitors locker room after that game, Butker never mentioned Townsend when he commented on his missed kick.
“I was hoping it was going to draw in, but it didn’t,” Butker said. “It’s a makeable kick, I was ready to go and I’ve got to make it. Obviously it had the distance, but it’s got to go through.”
Butker could say much of the same about his latest miss. Townsend appeared to have a competent hold after receiving a good snap from Winchester. One reason Reid elected to be conservative with his play calling for the Chiefs offense in the final minutes of the fourth quarter against the Texans is because of Butker’s strong statistics in clutch moments. Before Sunday, Butker had made nine of 11 field goal attempts in the last two minutes of the fourth quarter or overtime when the score was tied or the Chiefs trailed by three points or fewer.
Whether Butker gets another opportunity in a similar situation later this season, running back Jerick McKinnon acknowledged Sunday that he and the rest of the players on offense must move the ball down the field better in the final minutes to make the potential field goal easier for their kicker.
“We’ve all got to pick each other up,” McKinnon said. “Seventeen (games) is a long season. Nobody is perfect. We all make mistakes, we’re all human. We have the utmost belief in Butker. He’s been so clutch for us in the past. If he misses a field goal, it’s on to the next (one).
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“The chemistry on this team is so tight, and I think you see that in the play. No matter what the struggles are, we find a way to play team ball.”
(Photo of Tommy Townsend, left, and Harrison Butker: Carmen Mandato / Getty Images)
