NFL’s top-paid kicker is becoming a weekly nightmare for the Chiefs

Ugh, here we are again. Another week, and here I am, writing another article about how Harrison Butker’s struggles have hurt the Kansas City Chiefs this season. I've got déjà vu.

This time, it wasn’t a blown extra point or a missed field goal that cost the Chiefs, but rather a wayward kickoff that kickstarted Kansas City's downfall.

With his last touch of the football, Butker made a mistake that cost the Chiefs dearly in a 31-28 loss to the Jacksonville Jaguars on Monday Night Football—a frustrating end to a night in which he had otherwise been perfect.

Butker goes from clutch to choke

It has been a season riddled with miscues for Butker, but his latest mistake might well be the most frustrating of the lot.

Trailing by three late in the fourth quarter, the Chiefs retook the lead thanks to a two-yard Kareem Hunt touchdown run. Butker nailed the extra point, his fourth made kick of the night, to give KC a crucial four-point buffer.

At this point, it looked like vintage Butker was back. Here he was, making a clutch kick with the game on the line that gave the Chiefs a great chance of winning.

With 1:45 remaining on the clock, it meant a field goal would do nothing for the Jags. Jacksonville needed a touchdown to win the game, while Kansas City just needed one more defensive stop to seal victory.

Normally in this situation, it would be the defense that has the advantage. But instead, Butker put Kansas City behind the eight ball with the very next touch of the ball.

From the ensuing kickoff, Butker pushed his kick wide toward the sideline. The ball landed about a yard from the touchline before skipping out of bounds, drawing a penalty and moving the ball up to Jacksonville’s 40-yard line.

Just like that, a kick that was meant to pin the Jags deep in their own territory instead jump-started their drive. It’s an inexcusable mistake. It. Can. Not. Happen.

Harrison Butker's mistake was inexcusable

Butker has to do better there. The fact that he is the highest-paid kicker in the NFL just makes the mistake even more egregious. Of all the miscues Butker has had this season, this is the most inexplicable because it should have been the most controllable.

All Butker had to do was make sure the ball didn’t land short of the 20-yard line and didn’t go out of bounds, with either of those things putting the ball at the 40.

That gives him an area of roughly 8,000 square feet to try and land the ball in—a huge target area considering he’s used to kicking the ball through goalposts just 18 feet wide—but instead, the ball went out of bounds.

If you wanted to bang your head against a wall after watching that, I don’t blame you. I felt like doing the same thing. Why would you cut the margins so fine? Why would you even take a chance at giving the Jags any extra advantage? The risk was just so unnecessary—it was terrible situational football.

Even just blasting the ball through the end zone would have been a better result. That would have put the ball at the 35-yard line, giving the Chiefs' defense an extra five yards to play with—five yards that, as it turned out, they would desperately need.

Of course, we all know how things played out from there. The Jags drove the ball 60 yards down the field, with Trevor Lawrence rushing for the game-winning touchdown with 23 seconds left after literally tripping over during that very same play. And it all started with Butker’s blunder from the kickoff.

Maybe even if the kick was inbounds, the Jags could have busted off a big return that took them past the 40-yard line. Maybe Jacksonville would have scored anyway, even if they’d started from the 20- or 30-yard line. Nobody knows.

But the fact that the kick was so unnecessarily risky, so avoidable, and so entirely within Butker’s control makes it borderline unforgivable. Just kick the ball down the middle of the field instead—it’s as simple as that.

To be clear, that penalty and Butker himself are not the reason why the Chiefs lost that game. But it undoubtedly played a role in the result, and it isn’t the first time this season that the NFL’s top-paid kicker has been a factor in why his team lost.

It’s great that Butker was a perfect 4-for-4 on his extra points tonight, but the kicking mistakes have to stop, and they need to stop now, before they cost the Chiefs any more games.