Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times
Welcome to the NFL’s juiced-ball era.
The league passed a rule this spring that allows teams to spend all season preparing their own K-balls, or balls reserved specifically for kicks and punts. From 1999-2024, teams were only allowed to doctor them right before kickoff.
The result has been a revolution. Half of the six longest field goals in NFL history have happened in the last two months. Just two weeks ago, the Jaguars’ Cam Little made the longest field goal ever— a 68-yarder.
“The game is definitely evolving,” Bears special teams coordinator Richard Hightower said.