Chiefs’ Harrison Butker shares backstory on 71-yard kick attempt in pre-game warmups
Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker became a social media darling after nailing a 71-yard field-goal attempt during pregame warm-ups ahead of Kansas City’s game against the Los Angeles Chargers on Nov. 18.
The video of the kick in Mexico City went viral, but Butker knew what he was doing when he took the field that night.
“The longest field goals, a lot of times it’s during pregame warm-ups,” Butker said Wednesday, the first day of media availability after the Chiefs’ Week 12 bye. “And with media around talking about the altitude in Mexico City, I knew there would probably be cameras on me for the warm-up.
“So, normally, I’m obviously not kicking that far because I can’t. But I kind of wanted to see just how far back I could go with that altitude in Mexico City.”
For the record, the longest in-game field goal made is an NFL-record 64-yarder by Denver’s Matt Prater in 2013.
With TV cameras and assembled media on the field and in the press box monitoring Butker’s every move at Estadio Azteca, which sits at 7,200 feet above sea level, he started off by getting his leg loose like he normally does.
Then he decided to push it back after a standard load of warm-up kicks with the Chiefs’ primary field-goal battery of long-snapper James Winchester and holder Dustin Colquitt.
And before the trio knew it, they were entrenched on the other side of midfield, an area not often visited during pregame warm-ups.
“I think it was kind of cool for me as a snapper because I was like, ‘I’m on the other side of the 50,’ Winchester said with a laugh. “It was a little weird; it’s a little different.”
Butker’s initial attempt from long distance proved unsuccessful — he missed from 70 yards. He then nailed the very next attempt from 71, and video of the accomplishment quickly started making the rounds.
“Extremely impressive,” Winchester said. “It just shows his leg strength and his ability as one of the best kickers in the league.
As to whether he could’ve kept going from long distance, perhaps even out to 75 yards, Butker, whose career long in a game is 54 yards, said he decided to stop while the going was good.
“I hit that 71-yarder so much better than the other ones, so I was probably not going to hit the ball that well if I kept pushing it back,” Butker said with a grin. “I didn’t want to end on a miss, so 71 was good enough for me.”
