More Questions About Chiefs Kicker Are About To Arrive

The Kansas City Chiefs lost a tough game to the Denver Broncos on Sunday, 28-24, and it was a season-changer in many ways. It kept the Chiefs from cashing in on earning the tiebreaker and the advantages that would have come with a 1.5 game lead, but there’s a lot more to this story than just that. 

Really, it’s about kicker Harrison Butker, who had another rough day. Butker made his first big field goal of the game as he nailed a 45-yarder, but the one he missed had far more signficant implications. 

Specifically, it changes the way the Chiefs have to play. Coach Andy Reid made a typical strategic move late in the fourth quarter, assuming his kicker could make a 54-yarder that would have eliminated the need to automatically go for a touchdown in the final drive. 

Instead, the Butker miss changed the game. The Broncos were able to use the excellent field position the miss provided to drive the field and take the lead, and the Chiefs couldn’t pull of the game-winning drive when the Denver defense got a goal-line stand on the final five plays of the drive. 

Most of the conversation surrounding the miss has been about the sack taken by quarterback Patrick Mahomes that extended the field goal, but that conversation misses the point. Field goals from 54 yards are considered very makeable in today’s NFL, and Reid relied on that with the decision to trust Butker from that distance. 

But Butker isn’t trustworthy from that distance right now, and that changes the way the Chiefs have to play going forward. It limits their options offensively, and on Sunday it cost them a win. 

This will happen again going forward if Butker doesn’t improve, and in Denver he provided no evidence that he can do that. His second miss wasn’t close, and it resembled the other misses he’s had from over 50 yards in that regard. 

Reid is now officially at a crossroads with Butker, with the question being how long he can risk losses because his kicker can’t do what most NFL kickers can do. The Chiefs are now behind Denver in the AFC West, so they don’t have the luxury of an evaluation period, with yesterday the last call on that front.

Would Reid pull the plug on Butker and go with newly-signed kicker Justin Tucker? We’re about to find out in what could be a very big week for the Chiefs going forward.