
The Kansas City Chiefs sent a reminder to the NFL in Week 4 when they dominated the Baltimore Ravens by a score of 37-20. Patrick Mahomes was in MVP form, as he threw four touchdowns to four different players. The defense completely shut down the Ravens while the special teams had some great returns throughout the game.
If there was a negative, it was the fact that kicker Harrison Butker continued his early season struggles. He missed another field goal on Sunday, and has now missed one in three straight games.
Add those three field goals with two missed extra points, and he has five misses in four games. He missed only four field goals all of last season.
Now, you can look at it two different ways. Of his three field goals missed this season, two of them are from 56 and 58 yards. With how good kickers have gotten in the NFL, we take for granted that they should be able to make those kicks. Those are still very difficult kicks.
As we have seen across the league, there has been less of an emphasis in practice for teams when it comes to field goals. We have never seen a run of blocked field goals like we have the past couple of weeks.
There have been rumblings that Butker is still having some issues with his knee, as he had surgery on it last season. It is not his kicking leg, but rather his plant foot. Special teams coach Dave Toub said that the knee isn't an issue, rather, it is an issue with the ball contact.
Now, this isn't saying the Chiefs should even consider cutting Butker; they shouldn't. He has at times had struggles during a season, but has always responded when it matters in the playoffs.
Another interesting thing to keep an eye on is how much better does the offense start playing. On his misses, there was already frustration because the offense wasted good drives with bonehead penalties or mistakes that forced the field goal. Then, Butker missed those kicks and it felt like a total waste. If the offense is able to end more of those drives on touchdowns, then his role on the team won't be as big anyway.
Once again, two of those misses were extremely long field goals. This could easily be a situation that Chiefs fans forget about when he makes huge kicks in the playoffs. However, if this continues or he misses a huge kick later in the season, then there could be some conversations moving into the off-season about what to do at the position.