KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Not to sound unappreciative, but Harrison Butker doesn’t love it when the GEHA Field at Arrowhead Stadium crowd claps and cheers as he trots on the field for a potential game-winning kick as if it’s automatic.
All he can think is: “The game’s not won yet; I’ve still got to make this,” Butker said with a laugh.
But during the most pressure-packed moment an NFL kicker can face, he tunes out the crowd when it’s time to swing the leg.
“I try to block it out,” Butker said when asked if he feeds off or tries to ignore 75,000 breathless fans as the game’s fate rests on his right leg. “It’s hard not to try and feed off of it, but I try to block it out.”
Butker cranked a 51-yard game-winning field goal Sunday as time expired, the fourth game-winning kick of his career on the final snap or in overtime.
Mentally, Butker said he tries to make every practice kick and every warmup kick feel like a game-winning attempt.
“When I get to a game-winning moment, nothing different should happen,” he said.
But he admitted that the focus ramps up in those tense moments during the drive before it’s his turn to try and deliver a victory.
His résumé of game-winners doesn’t include the game-winning 45-yard field goal he drilled to beat Cincinnati in the 2022 AFC Championship Game with 3 seconds remaining, but Butker’s got a well-documented history in clutch moments — so it’s no shock Chiefs fans cheer in those moments.
His teammates are every bit as supremely confident.
“Oh, yeah, we're confident, man,” defensive end Mike Danna said. “He's one of the best closers in the game, and we know that. We’ve seen him do it over 100 times almost, so we had all the faith in Butker and he delivered.”
As he usually does.
“When I step on the field for that fourth-quarter drive with two minutes left or whatever it is and all I need’s a field goal, I know I’ve just got to cross the 50 and Harrison’s going to go out there and knock it through,” quarterback Patrick Mahomes said. “It’s a special thing to have a kicker like that.”
Chief coach Andy Reid added, “I hope we’re all that good under pressure.”
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KSHB 41 reporter Tod Palmer covers sports business and eastern Jackson County. Share your story idea with Tod.
