Will Reichard felt good from 55 yards out during warmups on Sunday. He believed he had a few extra yards in his leg if he had the wind behind him.
Once the game started, the wind at Lambeau Field was blowing toward the tunnel the Minnesota Vikings came out of and toward the Green Bay Packers’ sideline. So, he and special teams coordinator Matt Daniels felt confident he could convert from 59 yards out before halftime.
“It wasn’t anything crazy,” he said of the wind, adding that the field conditions were good, “but it was enough to affect things for sure.”
The result was Reichard’s fourth kick of 59 yards or more this season, an NFL record.
Joe Davis was extremely impressed with how far Will Reichard kicked this 59 yd FG pic.twitter.com/xszfRwUjY7
— CJ Fogler 🫡 (@cjzero) November 23, 2025
“That’s not common here,” said Aaron Jones, who spent his first seven seasons in Green Bay. “When they went to kick it, I was, ‘Oh, man.’ But we got the wind with us.”
It felt like a critical conversion before halftime. The Vikings went back to their locker room down 10-6 in a run-focused, defense-first slog of a game. Four points felt like a manageable deficit.
However, had Reichard missed, the Packers would have gotten the ball back with 10 seconds left. It was enough time for Jordan Love to complete a pass and set Brandon McManus up with a manageable field goal.
Will Reichard’s kick didn’t end up influencing the game’s outcome. The Vikings only gained four yards after halftime, losing 23-6 to the Packers and dropping to 4-7. Still, in a season where Minnesota aspired to contend but will likely end up being a developmental year for J.J. McCarthy, Reichard has been reliable at a volatile position in Vikings history.
“You sometimes forget that Will Reichard is only in his second year in the NFL,” Daniels said earlier this year. “How he really goes by his daily routine, and this guy just has a killer mindset. That’s really what you love and appreciate about the guy. He’s done an unbelievable job.”
Daniels gave Reichard the nickname “Will the Thrill” after he made 14 of his first 16 kicks (87.5%) in his first eight games as a rookie last year. He was four for five from 50-plus yards out, and his only other miss was a result of injury in Minnesota’s Week 9 win over the Indianapolis Colts last year.
However, Reichard injured his quadriceps against Indianapolis and missed Weeks 9 through 13 while recovering. He wasn’t the same after returning for Minnesota’s win over Kirk Cousins and the Atlanta Falcons. Reichard went 10 of 14 after injuring his quad, including two misses from 50-plus yards out and two from 40 to 49 yards away, respectively.
After an offseason to recover and establish a new routine, Will Reichard looked like the kicker he was in the first half of his rookie season again.
In Week 1, Reichard nailed a 59-yard field goal before halftime in Minnesota’s comeback win over the Chicago Bears. People call Chicago the Windy City because of the chilly breezes that fly off Lake Michigan and terrorize kickers. Still, Reichard navigated the gusts above Soldier Field with aplomb.
.@WillReichard makes a career long 59-yard FG and his teammates are hyped
MINvsCHI on ESPN/ABC
Stream on @NFLPlus and ESPN+ pic.twitter.com/jD8DNAAGCG
— NFL (@NFL) September 9, 2025
It also wasn’t a fluke. He hit a 62-yarder against the Cincinnati Bengals two weeks later.
The Vikings have a sordid history with kickers. Gary Anderson’s miss in the 1998 NFC Championship, and Blair Walsh’s 27-yard shank that ended a promising start live on in people’s memories. However, Reichard appears to be bucking the trend.
The best visual is his pregame warmups. Despite the chaos surrounding him – whether it’s cheerleaders, service members the Vikings are honoring, or the band – he goes about his business preparing for the game.
“People always get scared,” Reichard told Purple Insider. “I’ll see the look on their face, and they’ll start ducking. I’ll be like, ‘I promise you, you’re fine, I’m not going to hit you.’
“I try to be mindful. They are performers out there, so I try not to get in their way and try not to call any attention to myself because I want everyone to watch what they are doing. But at the same time, I’ve got to get loose too.”
Reichard has risen above Minnesota’s madness this year. He’s quieting the noise around its kicking history by converting from 60 yards out. He goes about his business so adroitly that he almost goes unnoticed.
In doing so, Reichard is telling us something.
I promise you, everything is going to be fine.