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For a long time, most would say that Adam Vinatieri was the best kicker when it came to the NFL playoffs and he made clutch kick after clutch kick for the Patriots when they were at their peak. Whether it was a kick to win a Super Bowl or something else, Vinatieri was money all the time.
There are others who would say that Vinatieri is the best kicker in playoff history, but Justin Tucker is the best kicker to ever play the game. Both things can be true. Tucker does not have the postseason success of Vinatieri but is a no-doubt Hall of Famer.
But it might be time to start talking about former Georgia Tech kicker Harrison Butker in the same breath.
Butker has now won three Super Bowls with the Chiefs (just one shy of tying Vinatieri) and as long as he is playing with Patrick Mahomes, he is going to have a chance to finish up with more than Vinatieri. Last season against the Eagles, Butker nailed the game-winning kick to win the Super Bowl, but last night was his best performance and one of the best performances from a kicker in NFL postseason history.
He kicked four field goals and scored 13 of the Chiefs’ 25 points in Sunday’s win. His four field goals tied the record for the most in a single Super Bowl and were the most since San Francisco’s Ray Wersching also kicked four in Super Bowl XVI, 42 years ago (1982).
Butker’s 57-yard field goal in the third quarter was the longest in Super Bowl history (breaking the previous record of 55, set earlier in the game by San Francisco’s Jake Moody) and his 29-yard field goal with three seconds remaining sent the game to overtime knotted at 19-19.
With four field goals on Sunday, Butker has kicked a total of nine field goals in four Super Bowl appearances (LIV, LV, LVII and LVIII), which is the most all-time, breaking the previous record of seven, shared by Stephen Gostkowski (six Super Bowl appearances with the New England Patriots) and Adam Vinatieri (five Super Bowls with New England and the Indianapolis Colts). With 13 points on Sunday, Butker has now scored a total of 37 points in his four Super Bowls, which is the most Super Bowl points ever for a kicker and the second-most overall, behind only legendary 49ers wide receiver Jerry Rice (48 points).
Here are the Super Bowl records that Butker now holds:
Longest Field Goal – 57 yards (Super Bowl LVIII)
Most Field Goals in a Game (tied) – 4 (LVIII)
Most Field Goals in a Career – 9 (4 games)
Most Kicking Points in a Career – 37 (4 games)
In just his seventh NFL season, Butker also became the first Georgia Tech alum to ever win three Super Bowls, surpassing Tech alums and two-time Super Bowl champs Bill Curry (I – Green Bay Packers, V – Baltimore Colts) and Shaq Mason (LI and LIII – New England).
Butker, who played at Georgia Tech from 2013-16 and is the Yellow Jackets’ all-time scoring leader with 337 career points.
The thing about Butker is that he still has a long career ahead of him and he can continue to add to his resume. What he did last night though was one of the best performances by a kicker in NFL history and his name needs to be mentioned with the other great kicker postseason performers in NFL history.
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