Earlier this week, one of my colleagues brushed aside a claim that the Chiefs are the worst 9-0 team in NFL history. “You can’t be the worst 9-0 team if you’re the two-time defending Super Bowl champs.”
Well, my friend, let me be the first to tell you that you are wrong. Especially now.
If you stack up all 34 teams to ever start 9-0 and rank them by point differential, the Chiefs rank dead last at -58 (go subscribe to Stathead, it’s great).
And while that alone certainly doesn’t equate to “worst” especially when you have the greatest quarterback of all-time not named Tom Brady, it certainly paints the picture of an underwhelming team surviving by the thinnest of margins as opposed to unbeatable juggernauts.
Outside of Mahomes, that team just lost the player it can least afford to lose.
NFL Network’s Tom Pelissero reported on Thursday that kicker Harrison Butker will miss the next 3-4 weeks with a knee injury. According to Ian Rapoport, Butker will undergo surgery to trim the meniscus in his left (non-kicking) knee and will be back for the stretch run and playoffs. Kansas City has signed Spencer Shrader off the Jets practice squad to serve as the interim replacement.
Yes, he’ll be back for the playoffs. No, it’s not the end of the world. But when you’re barely squeaking en route to pursuing 3-peat history — and potentially a perfect season — having your kicker require mid-season surgery certainly isn’t ideal. Especially when said kicker had already drastically changed his form to go down on his knee on every kick.
Harrison Butker has collapsed on his left knee following through EVERY kick this season.
It is a change in his technique that really caught my attention, and unfortunately it’s not surprising his left knee needs a meniscus procedure.
Hope he gets healthy. https://t.co/DsSVrKmFuz pic.twitter.com/1szLcRzQea
— Drew Butler (@DrewButler) November 14, 2024
Now back to that “best offensive player not named Patrick Mahomes” claim.
Travis Kelce is certainly rounding into HOF form. DeAndre Hopkins is building chemistry with Mahomes. The interior trio of Joe Thuney, Creed Humphrey and Trey Smith is perhaps the best in the NFL. And Isiah Pacheco will eventually return, though Kareem Hunt has filled in admirably.
And yet for a team that ranks just 11th in scoring, 18th in yards per play and 17th in red zone percentage, the kicking game has perhaps never been as important in the Mahomes era.
Entering Week 10, Butker’s 70 total points scored not only leads the team but is more than the next two Chiefs’ players combined. And while 31 of 32 teams are currently led by their kickers in scoring, only two — Steelers and Commanders — have a gap larger than their kicker and No. 1 skill position scorer.
On the season, Butker is a perfect 16-16 inside of 50 yards, the perfect insurance policy for any team with red-zone woes as bad as the Chiefs.
For a team with the loftiest of aspirations and one that somehow managed to hoist a Lombardi trophy with last year’s train wreck of a receiving room, Butker is the one player not named Mahomes they can ill-afford to lose.
