Harrison Butker comes up clutch for KC Chiefs

After a rough season, Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker put on a clinic in the Divisional Round playoffs against the Jacksonville Jaguars, plus a late save.

It’s been a pretty daunting season for Kansas City Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker. He got injured in the first quarter of the first game of the season and proceeded to miss the next several weeks. When he did finally come back, Butker’s performance has been up-and-down.

Butker wasn’t the only problem, but he contributed to a less-than-stellar special teams unit for the Chiefs this season, too. A real question was whether Butker was the problem, or if maybe Tommy Townsend just isn’t a great holder. According to former Chiefs legend Dustin Colquitt, it was the latter.

Nonetheless, Butker took his lumps, and along with it came many fans calling for the Chiefs to move on. How ridiculous.

During the games that Butker missed, the Chiefs paraded out a carousel of kickers, one of whom, Matthew Ammendola, cost K.C. the game against the dreadful Indianapolis Colts. If that didn’t show his worth, I’m not sure what could have. Nonetheless, Harrison Butker entered the post-season with albatross around his neck—and boy did he shed it.

When the Chiefs needed him the most, Butker drilled two 50-yard field goals in the Divisional Round against the Jaguars. And being Mr. Reliable, he nailed all three extra-points to boot. If you don’t think that’s impressive, go ask the Dallas Cowboys about Brett Maher. 

Butker’s performance really shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone. Outside of maybe Justin Tucker, there just isn’t a better kicker in the league. If it hadn’t been for the injury, Butker probably would’ve had one of his best seasons ever. Instead, Tommy Townsend was collecting All-Pro honors while spinning the laces in on missed attempts and Butker was taking the blame.

Butker did come up clutch for the Chiefs against Jacksonville on field goals and extra points, but the one area he seemed to struggle a little bit in was kick offs. The unit as a whole gave up some big returns, but that was also where Butker had probably his biggest play of the day.

Man, oh man, what a save. Let’s hope he doesn’t have to do it again this week against the Bengals.

Butker will want to practice putting some extra air under those kicks heading into the AFC Championship game next week. The team absolutely cannot allow the Cincinnati Bengals any extra yards, let alone a return touchdown.