 Tampa Stadium, the site ofSuper Bowl XXV. | |||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||
| Date | January 27, 1991 (1991-01-27) | ||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stadium | Tampa Stadium Tampa, Florida | ||||||||||||||||||
| Favorite | Bills by 7 | ||||||||||||||||||
| Referee | Jerry Seeman | ||||||||||||||||||
| Attendance | 73,813 | ||||||||||||||||||
| TV in the United States | |||||||||||||||||||
| Network | ABC | ||||||||||||||||||
| Announcers | Al Michaels,Frank Gifford, andDan Dierdorf | ||||||||||||||||||
Wide Right, a.k.a.47 Wide Right, wasScott Norwood's missed 47-yardfield goal attempt for theBuffalo Bills at the end ofSuper Bowl XXV on January 27, 1991, as described by sportscasterAl Michaels. The missed field goal resulted in the game being won by theNew York Giants. The phrase "wide right" has since become synonymous with the game itself, and has since been used in other sports. This game is also calledThe Miss by some Bills fans.
Following an 11-yard run for a first down byThurman Thomas,Jim Kelly spiked the ball for an incompletion to stop the clock (since the Bills had already exhausted their timeouts).[1][2] With eight seconds left in the game, Norwood's Bills trailed the Giants by a single point. They chose to try a 47-yard field goal, which would win the game and the championship for the Bills. However, 47 yards was considered near the limit of Norwood'skicking range, particularly on a grass field, according to comments during the original game broadcast.[3] Bills head coachMarv Levy also noted that fewer than 50% of such attempts succeeded.[4] In fact, during his career, Norwood was 1 of 5 for field goal attempts of more than 40 yards on grass, and with his longest field goal being 48 yards in that season.
Norwood lined up for the 47-yard game-winning field goal attempt from the righthash of the 37-yard line, withFrank Reich theholder andAdam Lingner thelong snapper. The kick, although it had sufficient distance, passed about a foot to the right of the righthandgoalpost and the field goal attempt failed. Television sportscasterAl Michaels, calling the game forABC, announced the occurrence to a stunned television audience: "No good...wide right." Later video analysis revealed Frank Reich mistakenly aligned the laces to the right, thereby positioning the kicked ball to fade right once in the air.[citation needed]
The Giants took possession with four seconds left andran out the clock for a 20–19 victory, making thisSuper Bowl the closest ever. Had Norwood successfully scored it would have likely given the Bills a 22–20 victory, their first Super Bowl win, and it would also have been the first Super Bowl to be decided by a game-ending field goal sinceJim O'Brien's 32-yard kick which gave theBaltimore Colts a 16–13 victory against theDallas Cowboys inSuper Bowl V.
In losing the game, the Bills lost their first of four consecutive Super Bowls. This loss was the closest the team got to victory, as the following three Super Bowls ended with the Bills losing by considerable margins (13 points to theWashington Redskins inSuper Bowl XXVI, 35 points to theDallas Cowboys inSuper Bowl XXVII, and 17 points to theCowboys inSuper Bowl XXVIII, respectively).[5] The city of Buffalo had not won aBig 4 sports championship since1965 (which became the longest such streak of futility for any city that has at least two major sports franchises onceSan Diego, whose last title came in1963, lostone of its two teams in 2017), so Norwood's unsuccessful attempt had an even greater significance.[4] As of 2025, the winless streak remains intact.
The Bills immediately began searching for a replacement for Norwood after the missed kick. Former Giants kickerBjörn Nittmo was brought into the 1991 training camp but failed to impress, which kept Norwood on the roster for the 1991 season. Finally, in 1992, the Bills signed the kicker who would become Norwood's replacement,Steve Christie, which ended Norwood's career.
A similar occurrence happened in the Divisional round of the2023–24 NFL playoffs against theKansas City Chiefs; Bills kickerTyler Bass missed a game-tying 44-yard kick late in the 4th quarter to the right of the goalpost leading to the Bills' loss, which drew comparisons to Norwood's "Wide Right" kick, including by the game's commentatorJim Nantz, who said "Wide right. The two most dreaded words in Buffalo have surfaced again."[6][7][8][9]
| |
| Franchise | |
| Stadiums | |
| Culture | |
| Lore | |
| Rivalries | |
| Division championships (15) | |
| Conference championships (4) | |
| League championships (2) | |
| Wall of Fame | |
| Media |
|
| Owners | |
| Current league affiliations |
|
| Former league affiliation |
|
