Harrison Butker kept making a lonely walk to midfield after each quarter Sunday to check on the direction of the wind, which tends to swirl inside Arrowhead Stadium. He did it one last time during the 2-minute warning, when his Chiefs were trailing the Bengals by two and trying to give him a winning field-goal attempt.
When Patrick Mahomes and the rest of the offense did exactly that, helped along by a pass interference call on Cincinnati safety Daijahn Anthony on fourth down in the final minute, Butker once again headed onto the field as Chiefs fans began to roar.
Rarely does he miss. And they didn't expect him to this time.
With preternatural calm, Butker drilled the 51-yarder as time expired, giving Kansas City the 26-25 victory.
"I try to block it out," Butker said of the crowd noise. "It's hard not to feed off it, but I try to block it out. What I don't like is when you're trotting onto the field and everyone is clapping, and I'm like, 'The game's not over yet. I still have to make this kick.'"
