Andy Reid Reacts to Harrison Butker's 58-Yard Game-Winner Against Chargers
Sitting at the 35-yard line, Kansas City Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker put up what would’ve been a game-winning 53-yard kick in overtime against the Los Angeles Chargers
Before the kick went up, a false-start penalty was called against Chiefs guard Nick Allegretti, moving the ball back five yards.
Butker kicked the ball from that point, sinking it again. The 58-yard kick didn’t count, though, due to a timeout. That didn’t matter, as the third time was the charm, giving the Chiefs a 23-20 win at SoFi Stadium.
The two 58-yarders Butker hit on Sunday marked the longest in his career, and tied for the longest in Chiefs history. The feat was originally accomplished by Nick Lowrey in 1983 and 1985.
“Butker, I mean, what can you say?" Reid said after the game. "He kicked four field goals and two of them counted,” head coach Andy Reid said.
During the sequence, Butker kicked the ball a total of 169 yards. Add the 58-yard kick he kicked in the third quarter and the 30-yard make in the fourth and the third-year kicker accounted sent the ball a total of 257 yards on three-point tries. Only 146 of them counted.
The yardage didn’t really matter in the stat book, though. It’s exactly what Reid and special teams coordinator David Toub had in mind for Butker's range this season.
“There wasn’t a lot of wind down there, that’s a good thing," Reid said. "Actually a little bit like the greenhouse effect, I mean it was warm up there. We said [the 40-yard-line] before the game either way. He felt comfortable with that.”
Butker sank the 30-yard kick as the clock ran out in regulation tying the game 20-20, sending the game to overtime.
Once the Chiefs defense forced the Chargers to punt to start, quarterback Patrick Mahomes and the offense did the rest of the work, setting Butker up for the game-winning kick.
“Listen, it was a tough team win is what it was,” Reid said. “It seems like every time we play these guys it comes down to something like this. I’m proud of the guys for battling through. Things weren’t going well for us on either side of the ball, but the guys rallied it.”
