KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Ancient Greek philosopher Aristotle wrote, “Probable impossibilities are to be preferred to improbable possibilities.” It’s a good thing Aristotle never watched the Kansas City Chiefs play football.
The Chiefs stretched the definition of probable impossibilities in Sunday’s 16-14 win over the Denver Broncos by using the rare walk-off blocked field goal to secure the victory.
The officials placed the ball at the 17-yard line, and Broncos kicker Wil Lutz lined up for a 35-yard field goal try with 1 second remaining in the contest. NFL NextGenStats pegged Denver’s win probability at 92%. Kansas City has escaped worse jams than that, however, so perhaps it wasn’t such a probable impossibility after all.
On field goals with the line of scrimmage from the 16- to the 18-yard line, NFL kickers were 34-of-36 (94.4%) on the season heading into Sunday. New York Jets kicker Greg Zuerlein had a 35-yard field blocked by Pittsburgh’s Dean Lowry in Week 7. On the same day, Los Angeles Rams kicker Joshua Karty missed a 35-yard attempt against Las Vegas.
Since the beginning of the 2022 season, NFL kickers have had a 93.4% success rate on kicks in this range during the regular season. Only four of 229 attempts in that range have been blocked. Coincidentally one of those four blocks also came against Denver. In Week 5 of the 2022 season, Indianapolis’ Grover Stewart blocked a 34-yard attempt by former Bronco Brandon McManus.
Yet Leo Chenal found a way to get his hand on the ball and clear the path to a Chiefs victory. Chenal now has two blocked kicks in his last 10 games going back to last season’s Super Bowl when he blocked an extra-point attempt by San Francisco’s Jake Moody. That kept the 16-13 and paved the way for the Chiefs to send the game into overtime.
Butker’s Squib Kick
The Broncos’ final drive into field goal range was aided when Harrison Butker hit a short kickoff that fell short of the landing zone at the 20-yard line. The ball also bounced out of bounds, but hitting the ground short of the landing zone results in the receiving team taking position at their 40-yard line, or 25 yards from the kickoff spot.
Butker’s four previous kickoffs resulted in touchbacks, and the squib nature of the kickoff suggested the Chiefs were trying to get tricky by forcing a return or creating a loose ball situation.
The explanation was much simpler. Butker was gunning for a touchback and mishit the ball off the tee.
“I just did not hit a good ball there,” Butker said. “I really felt like I let the team down, giving them basically a 10-yard advantage, starting on the 40 instead of the 30-yard line. So I’m really happy we won, and obviously, that’s a mistake you never want to have.”
Nazeeh Johnson’s Big Day
Cornerback Nazeeh Johnson returned to action after missing last week’s win over Tampa Bay due to a concussion, and the third-year pro didn’t miss a beat in the eyes of coach Andy Reid.
“I’m going to give credit to Nazeeh because Nazeeh never gets any credit,” Reid said. “For leading the team in tackles, he did a nice job there.”
In only his second NFL start, Johnson led all players with a career-high 10 combined tackles. He also picked up his first career sack for a 17-yard loss. Interestingly, Johnson said the blitz where he picked up the sack wasn’t originally designed for him.
“Thank you to (Justin Reid) because it wasn’t designed for me, but he was grateful enough to give it to me and I went,” Johnson said. “Just executing the game plan, it shows when you do your job within the defense, great things happen, and I have a 10-tackle career game, so very blessed for it.”
Reid said it was huge to see Johnson stepping into a larger role.
“Big-time sack, big-time plays,” Reid said. “We need him to, and that’s what we know that he’s capable of, and we’re going to look forward to him continuing to do that.”
Pass Target: Kareem Hunt
Kareem Hunt averaged 25.5 touches during the past four games but rushed just 14 times for 35 yards on Sunday, producing just 2.5 yards per carry.
He made up for that lack of production in the passing game, catching seven passes on 10 targets for 65 yards, averaging 9.3 yards per catch. Hunt entered Sunday’s action with just 7 catches for 51 yards in his first five games with the Chiefs.
Hunt was a prolific pass catcher during his first stint with the Chiefs in 2017-18, catching 79 passes for 833 yards in 27 games. He never matched that production during his five years with the Cleveland Browns, with his best season coming in 2020 when he caught 38 passes for 304 yards.
Getting Hunt involved in the short-passing game and the screen game should have a significant benefit for the Chiefs offense. Utilizing Hunt in the flat should help slow down edge rushers who must remain wary of Hunt finding empty space behind him. Hunt averaged 14.5 yards per catch with seven touchdowns in 11 games during the 2018 season, illustrating how effective he can be in the passing game.
By the Numbers
Another win has the Chiefs rewriting the club’s record book and also rising up the charts for the longest winning streaks in league history:
- Nine wins to start the season matches the franchise record originally set in 2003 and matched in 2013. The club can set a new mark with a 10th win opening the season with a victory at Buffalo.
- The nine-game winning streak is the second-longest streak in a single season in franchise history. The 2015 and 2020 squads each had 10-game winning streaks.
- The Chiefs have won 11 consecutive regular-season games going back to last year, matching the franchise record set during the 2015-16 seasons.
- The 15 consecutive wins including regular season and postseason games are a club record and also tied for the eighth-longest streak during the Super Bowl era. The Pittsburgh Steelers won 15 games in a row during 2004-05. Up next are the Oakland Raiders, who own the seventh-longest streak with 17 wins in 1976-77. The New England Patriots own the longest win streak with 21 victories during the 2003-04 seasons.
Travis Kelce hauled in his 76 touchdown reception of his career, matching the franchise record set by Tony Gonzalez. Kelce ranks No. 2 on the club’s leaderboard for most touchdowns with 79 (76 receiving, two rushing, one fumble return). Priest Holmes holds the franchise record with 83 touchdowns (76 rushing, seven receiving)
Broncos edge rusher Nik Bonitto was credited with six pressures against the Chiefs, including three pressures in under 2.5 seconds, according to NFL NextGenStats. Four of those pressures came against backup left tackle Kingsley Suamataia in 11 pass-blocking matchups. Starter Wanya Morris allowed just one pressure on 15 pass-blocking snaps.
