The 2022 NFL season didn't start on a high note for Harrison Butker, but it definitely ended on one when he kicked the Chiefs to a 38-35 victory over the Eagles in Super Bowl LVII.
Every kicker dreams of hitting the game-winning field goal in the Super Bowl and that's exactly what Butker did. With 11 seconds left to play in the game, the Chiefs sent Butker out for a 27-yard field goal and he drilled the kick, sending the Chiefs to their second Super Bowl win in four years.
FOR. THE. LEAD. pic.twitter.com/Qqq8DefGx6
— Kansas City Chiefs (@Chiefs) February 13, 2023
That was Butker's second field goal attempt of the game. In the first quarter, he missed a 42-yard field goal off the left upright, but that didn't seem to bother him for his second kick.
Butker started getting mentally ready for the game-winning kick after the Eagles scored a touchdown and a two-point conversion to tie things up at 35 with just 5:15 left to play.
"When it was tied, I was thinking, 'OK, this is going to come down to a field goal most likely, and sure enough it did, and we were ready and we made the kick," Butker said.
Everyone who has dreamed of becoming an NFL kicker has also dreamed of hitting the game-winning kick in the Super Bowl and Butker is no different.
"That's what you dream of as a kicker, getting to the Super Bowl and having a game-winning kick," Butker said. "It's crazy to think that that's now happened. It's an amazing feeling and I'm just so happy now to be with the Chiefs' organization."
One reason Butker is likely happy to be with the Chiefs is because they didn't give up on him despite some early-season struggles. Butker's season got off to an ugly start when he injured his ankle in Week 1 during a game in Arizona. That's right, Butker suffered the injury in the very same stadium where he kicked the Super Bowl game-winner.
Like the Super Bowl, the field in Week 1 was also slippery and that's what caused Butker to get hurt. The field was so bad in Week 1 that the Chiefs actually complained about it.
The ankle injury knocked Butker out for four weeks and when he returned, he just wasn't the same kicker. During his first three games back, Butker hit just 4-of-7 field goals. Despite his early season struggles this year -- and his career-low field goal percentage of 75% in 2022 -- Butker has been Mr. Reliable for the Chiefs over his six seasons. He's made so many kicks that he's actually the fourth-most accurate kicker in NFL history with a field goal conversion rate of 88.2%.
Following the Super Bowl, Chiefs coach Andy Reid said the team wasn't too worried about his early-season struggles and that they were happy to let him work through it.
"The only reason he had problems is because of that high-ankle sprain," Reid said. "That's rough on a kicker, especially on that plant leg, so it was just a matter of getting through that. He's very tough."
Reid likely wasn't worried about Butker because the 27-year-old is arguably one of the most clutch kickers ever. Outside of Adam Vinatieri, there aren't many kickers in NFL history who have come up clutch as often as Butker in the postseason.
The only reason the Chiefs were in the Super Bowl is because Butker hit a 45-yard game-winning field goal to give Kansas City a 23-20 win against the Bengals in the AFC Championship Game.
In 2021, he hit a 44-yard field goal on the final play of Kansas City's first AFC title game against the Bengals to send that one into overtime (The Chiefs would lose 27-24). In the divisional round that year, Butker hit a 49-yard field goal against the Bills to send that game to overtime. That kick capped off the Chiefs' famous 13-second drive in a game they would eventually win 42-36.
In the 2018 AFC title game, Butker also sent the game to overtime with a 39-yard field goal in the final seconds against the Patriots. Although Kansas City would lose 37-31, Butker's clutch kicking kept them alive.
Those were all big kicks, but nothing will ever be bigger than hitting a game-winning kick in the Super Bowl and thanks to that kick, Butker has now etched his name in NFL history, which isn't easy for a kicker to do.
