Wouldn’t you know it? The season of the kicker came down to two missed kicks.<\/p>\n
Pittsburgh Steelers kicker Chris Boswell shanked the extra point after Aaron Rodgers threw a 26-yard touchdown pass with 55 seconds left Sunday night against the Baltimore Ravens in a win-or-go-home<\/a>, 272nd and final regular season game.<\/p>\n That left the Steelers clinging to a 26-24 lead and when Lamar Jackson connected with Isaiah Likely for a 26-yard gain on fourth-and-7 from the 50-yard line, it looked like Rodgers would be missing the playoffs for the fourth consecutive season.<\/p>\n He sat on the Steelers bench looking forlorn as Jackson took the next snap and shuffled toward the right hashmark to set up rookie kicker Tyler Loop for the 44-yard game-winner<\/p>\n Ravens coach John Harbaugh called timeout with 2 seconds left and Loop trotted out to send the Ravens into the playoffs and end the Steelers’ season.<\/p>\n He hadn’t missed inside of 50 yards all season.<\/p>\n The snap was good, the hold was good but Loop didn’t kick the ball cleanly. He said he knew as soon as it came off his foot funny that he’d pushed it to the right<\/a>.<\/p>\n Maybe Harbaugh should have tried to get Loop a little closer, but 44 yards is a gimme for kickers nowadays. <\/p>\n \u201cIt was a close kick,\u201d said Harbaugh, who put his arm around Loop as they walked off the field and into the tunnel afterward. \u201cWe wanted to center the ball. We wanted to make sure we got the (chance to) kick. We didn’t want something bad to happen on the run. I don’t think that was a bad decision.\u201d<\/p>\n Field goals of 40- to 50-yards are now considered short kicks. Fifty-plus is medium.<\/p>\n Sixty-plus tries used to be unheard of. Not anymore.<\/p>\n Kickers have enjoyed unprecedented success with long-distance field goals of 60 or more yards the last two seasons thanks to rule changes favoring the specialists, such as the new K-ball, and more trust from coaches, leading to game strategy shifts and historic accuracy. <\/p>\n Jacksonville kicker Cam Little kicked the two longest field goals in NFL history this season, nailing a 68-yarder at Las Vegas in Week 9 and splitting the uprights with a 67-yarder Sunday against the Tennessee Titans. <\/p>\n Sixty-yard field goals are no longer a big risk but a realistic expectation for today’s kickers. Dallas’ Brandon Aubrey made three field goals from beyond 60 yards this season, and overall kickers were 12 for 22 on field goals of 60-plus yards in 2025.<\/p>\n Denver Broncos kicker Wil Lutz said the tweaks in the kickoff rules in 2025 allowed kickers to save their legs by not having to blast every kickoff out of the back of the end zone like they used to. That, in turn, has allowed them to have more oomph on field goal attempts in the fourth quarter or overtime.<\/p>\n \u201cAnytime your body feels better it helps,\u201d said Lutz, whose five game-winning field goals helped the Broncos (14-3) earn the top seed in the AFC playoffs<\/a> and the first-round bye that goes with it. \u201cYeah, you feel fresher, you feel good, feel strong. I would say most kicker injuries probably came from full-speed kickoffs and you’re not seeing that.\u201d<\/p>\n Loop had plenty of length Sunday night, it’s just that he didn’t kick the ball like he had on all the other 29 field goal attempts he’d made from inside 50 yards this season.<\/p>\n \u201cThe operation was great,\u201d Loop said in the sullen locker room afterward. “It was a great situation, exactly what we wanted. And unfortunately, I just mis-hit the ball. We call it \u2018hitting it thin,\u2019 it spins fast and goes off to the right. <\/p>\n \u201cI love this team and I love these guys. I wish it would have ended different.”<\/p>\n ___<\/p>\n Behind the Call analyzes the biggest decisions in the NFL during the season.<\/p>\n ___<\/p>\n