Saints kicker Wil Lutz nearly made NFL history on Sunday, but ended up missing it by about two inches. Those two thumbs allowed the Minnesota Vikings to escape London with a 28-25 victory over New Orleans.
With two seconds left, Lutz was lucky enough to tie the game with a 61-yard field goal throughout his career, and in what might be one of the most spectacular field goal attempts of 2022, the kick was a double-doink: He ended up hitting the left upright before rushing the crossbar and falling back to the court for a miss.
In the video below, you can see Lutz’ dramatic attempt.
To give you a better idea of how close Lutz was to missing the kick, here’s a closer look at the double-doink.
And when we say that kick missed by two inches, we mean it missed by two inches.
If the kick had just gone an inch or two further inside, the ball probably would have bounced after hitting the post, but instead the ball bounced, giving the Vikings the win.
The craziest thing about the kick is that if Lutz had done it, he would have become the first kicker in NFL history to hit two field goals from 60 or more yards in the game. Less than 110 seconds before his miss from 61 yards, the Saints dispatched Lutz for a 60-yard attempt to tie the game at 22.
At game time, the Saints were facing a fourth and a 9 from the Minnesota 42-yard line, so coach Dennis Allen basically had two options: he could try to convert fourth down or he could send Lutz for a 60-yard field goal attempt. Allen went for option two and Lutz made his coach absolutely brilliant by drilling the kick from 60 yards.
Although Lutz could not make NFL history, he became the first kicker of the 2022 season to score a field goal of 60 yards or more. Lutz scored a total of five points in the Saints’ dramatic loss.