Advertisement

'Wide right': Explaining Buffalo Bills' two heartbreaking missed kicks decades apart

chris bumbaca, usa today
·3 min read
3

As Jim Nantz said on the CBS broadcast, they are the two words no Buffalo Bills fan ever wants to hear.

Wide Right.

History has a tendency to repeat itself – unfortunately for the Bills.

With the Kansas City Chiefs leading 27-24 and less than two minutes remaining in the game, Buffalo kicker Tyler Bass lined up a 44-yard field goal attempt that would have tied the game. The kick, sailing through the blustery winds of western New York, never had a chance and missed to the right.

"The two most dreaded words in Buffalo have surfaced again," Nantz said on the broadcast.

Wide right: Scott Norwood in Super Bowl 25

The Bills famously lost four consecutive Super Bowls in the 1990s, and the first defeat was the most painful. Facing the New York Giants and trailing 20-19, the Bills drove into field goal range for a game-winning, 47-yard kick.

Kicker Scott Norwood took his approach from the right hashmark (similar to Bass). The kick went up with eight seconds to play and appeared as if it would go through the uprights. Instead, the ball snuck outside the right upright. Al Michaels, the play-by-play announcer for that game, called it as: "No good … wide right."

In the sports world and Buffalo, the miss became known as "Wide Right." The Bills have still never won the Super Bowl.

Who is Scott Norwood?

A Virginia native, Norwood kicked collegiately at James Madison and started his professional career with the Birmingham Stallions of the original United States Football League (USFL). He landed with the Bills in 1985 and was named first-team All-Pro in 1988, the season he led the league in scoring.

Following his missed Super Bowl kick, Norwood lasted an additional season with the Bills before his football career ended.

Who is Tyler Bass?

Bass has been with the Bills since 2020, when Buffalo selected him in the sixth round (188th overall) of the draft. He beat out Stephen Hauschka for the starting job during training camp that summer.

Bass was 24-for-29 on field goals during the 2023 regular season. He was 1-of-3 against the Pittsburgh Steelers in the wild-card round, which included a blocked attempt. Bass said he should have accounted more for the wind blowing left to right.

"Ultimately, it's completely on me," Bass said, according to ESPN. "I've got to do a better job of getting through to my target. I've got to do a better job of playing it a little bit more left when you have a left to right (wind). I've been here long enough to know that you have to do that…

"You know, I was trusting my line that I had in warmups. Hit a good ball, but it didn't work out. I feel terrible, you know? I love this team and it hurts. This one hurts bad. Yeah, I've got to do a better job. Totally on me."

As the Bills left the field after the final whistle, quarterback Josh Allen put his arm around the kicker.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Tyler Bass joins Scott Norwood in Buffalo Bills' 'wide right' history