When the Kansas City Chiefs had their backs to the wall with just seconds remaining in the divisional round win, kicker Harrison Butker answered the call for greatness, nailing a 49-yard field goal to send the game to overtime.
One of the most clutch kicks of his career, a miss would’ve delivered the Buffalo Bills a second-straight AFC championship berth. Instead, the made three-point play doomed the underdog Bills when Kansas City won the overtime coin toss.
For Butker it was just another feather in his cap, though. He understands the importance of every opportunity he gets to put points on the board. He didn’t want to make the kick any bigger than it was after missing a field and PAT earlier in the game. Butker told reporters on Monday that he gets into a robotic state of mind, especially when the pressure is on.
“I try to be like a robot,” Butker said. “Every kick is a big kick. I have different mental cues that I go through, different things that I do on the sideline to prepare me for each kick. As a kicker, the more you start thinking about the magnitude of the kick, what’s on the line, well then is that going to help you make the kick? Probably not. So, I think ‘what can I do right now in this moment to help improve the chances of me making this kick?’ I can work on my steps, I can go through my mental cues, I can make sure my ball contact is good in the net, I can visualize the ball going through.
“I can do all those things and then go out there, give it my best shot. Thankfully it went through, but it’s not until after the game you’re thinking wow, you know if I had missed that kick our season would be over and obviously, we have aspirations to go to our third Super Bowl in a row and win our second with this Coach Reid coached up team. You can’t think about all those things and I just really try to stay in my zone and focus on what I can control and execute to the best of my ability.”
Whatever helps the fifth-year veteran stay consistent for two more games will work just fine for fans who want the Chiefs to continue their run of dominance in big games this season. Butker has a unique role on a team that prides itself on its ability to put up as many points are needed to secure wins, and if the game against Buffalo was any indication, Kansas City can count on him to hit the kicks that matter most.
