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As I’m sure you gentlemen already know, the NFL went international for Monday Night Football in Week 11 and unlike those early Sunday games in London, this game was held in Mexico City which meant it aired at a normal time.
The Kansas City Chiefs beat the Los Angeles Chargers 24-17, due in no small part to Philip Rivers throwing 4 interceptions (1 TD) including one to end the game. Rivers is 37-years-old and in the last year of his contract so it’ll be interesting to see what the Chargers do going forward now that the playoffs are out of sight (they’re 4-7 on the season).
Prior to the game, Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker drilled a 71-yard field goal in warmups that would’ve demolished the existing NFL record had it been kicked in a game. The current NFL record for the longest field goal is 64-yards from Matt Prater in Denver. The longest ever attempt was in 2008 when Sebastian Janikowski tried to make a 76-yarder.
There have been six instances of an NFL kicker making a 63-yard field goal and of those six only two of them were at Denver. I mention this because of the altitude. Mile High Stadium/Denver is located at 5,200-feet above sea level which allows the ball to travel further.
Monday Night Football in Mexico City was held at between the Azteca Stadium. What’s the altitude of Azteca Stadium? It sits at 7,201 feet above sea level. The elevation certainly takes a toll on the athletes but it also allows the ball to travel further than it would in Denver and much further than it would at a stadium like Tampa Bay that’s basically right at sea level.
Keep that in mind as you watch Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker drill this 71-yard field goal before Monday Night Football:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LesNsyo-jJg
https://twitter.com/HighlightCrib/status/1196589626737201155
As you can imagine, people who caught sight of that 71-yarder took to Twitter with their reactions.
In his pregame warmup, Harrison Butker received loud roars from the early crowd here after making a 71-yard field goal. Butker's comfortable range appears to be from around 60 yards.
— Nate Taylor (@ByNateTaylor) November 19, 2019
During warmups, KC kicker Harrison Butker made a 71 yd FG. pic.twitter.com/e5SWOL5xud
— Daniel Jeremiah (@MoveTheSticks) November 19, 2019
Harrison Butker for Khalil Mack.
Who says no
— Mark Wemken (@MarkWemken) November 18, 2019
It would certainly be fun to see how the diehards would react if the record for the longest field goal in NFL history was broken during a future game in Mexico City, played at an altitude unlike anything in the USA, and a game that wasn’t played in an actual NFL stadium. I could see people losing their minds trying to do cartwheels in an attempt to delegitimize that theoretical record but you never know.