The Buffalo Bills saw this nightmare play out before.
Wide right haunted the Bills again Sunday night with kicker Tyler Bass missing a game-tying 44-yard field goal with 1:43 left in regulation as the Kansas City Chiefs handed Buffalo a demoralizing 27-24 divisional-round defeat at Highmark Stadium.
Bass was clearly dejected after missing the high-pressure kick. He didn’t try to run from the blame, though, as he faced it head-on after the game.
“Ultimately, it’s completely on me,” Bass told reporters, per NFL.com’s Kevin Patra. “Got to do a better job of getting through to my target. Got to do a better job of playing it a little bit more left when you have a left-to-right. I’ve been here long enough to know that you have to do that. I was trusting my line that I had in warmups. Hit a good ball, it didn’t work out. I feel terrible. I love this team, and it hurts. This one hurts bad. I’ve got to do a better job.”
Bass’ miss was shades of Scott Norwood’s unforgettable miss in Super Bowl XXV against the New York Giants. Norwood pushed a game-winning 47-yard field goal attempt in the waning seconds wide right, beginning a string of four consecutive Super Bowl losses for the Bills.
Bass did make a 27-yard field goal earlier in the contest and was successful on all three point-after attempts, but his struggles in the playoffs came through at the worst possible time.
The fourth-year kicker was shaky in Buffalo’s wild-card win over the Pittsburgh Steelers last week. Bass had a 49-yard attempt blocked and botched a 27-yarder as well.
While Bass took his miscue on the chin, both star quarterback Josh Allen and Bills head coach Sean McDermott stood by the kicker in a difficult moment.
“We have full confidence in Tyler,” McDermott told reporters, per team-provided video. “He’s kicked well for us over the years. I thought he came out early and was kicking well. The ball was coming off his foot well. And then the ball started to fade a little bit on some of those extra points. And then the last kick as you saw.”
