Lions rookie kicker Jake Bates thought his football dream was dead. His game-winner beat the Vikings

Published Oct. 20, 2024 6:47 p.m. ET

Associated Press

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Jake Bates was selling bricks. Now he's making game-winning kicks in the NFL.

Bates made a 44-yard field goal with 15 seconds left to give the Detroit Lions a 31-29 victory over the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday.

Bates is 10 for 10 on field goals this season and 20 for 21 on extra points. The rookie signed with the Lions in June after putting together a strong performance with the Michigan Panthers of the UFL, where he made three field goals of at least 60 yards in the spring league.

Bates, 25, was the Southeastern Conference Kicker of the Year in 2022, his only year at Arkansas. After going undrafted, he thought it was time to try a different field — a much different field.

“Eighteen months ago, I thought I was through with football,” Bates said. “I was selling bricks back in Houston. I thought the dream was dead.”

Instead, he got a tryout with his hometown Houston Texans. He spent 10 days in their training camp before being cut in August 2023.

That led him to the UFL, where he made 7 of 11 field goals from 50-plus yards for the Panthers last spring.

The Lions gave him a chance to compete with Michael Badgley for the team's kicking job. The competition ended on July 25 when Badgley suffered a season-ending injury. Since then, it's been Bates' job, and it didn't take him long to earn the confidence of coach Dan Campbell.

“I just felt good about it,” Campbell said of the decision to try for a field goal rather than push for a touchdown on the Lions' final drive. “We’ve had five NFL games with him, and then when you see him every day in practice, and you give him the crowd noise and you move the spot and I’m yelling at him — you’re just applying pressure and watching as he continues to make these kicks.”

“You feel pretty good when he gets pressed into it,” Campbell continued. “We just felt like his confidence is growing and he’d just go out there and it’s just the next kick, and he did that.”

With more than 66,000 fans roaring at US Bank Stadium, the rookie calmly went out and split the uprights.

“It was definitely the loudest environment I’ve ever kicked in. But at the end of the day, it’s doing the same job that I prayed for for so long, and I worked so hard for,” Bates said. “I kind of just told myself to stay calm ... doing those things to keep my head in a good space and then go out there and do my job.”

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