Detroit Lions kicker Jake Bates became the viral sensation of his team’s Monday Night Football game against the San Francisco 49ers — but it had nothing to do with field goals.
Bates, 25, was seen performing a unique stretching routine to mitigate an injury during the fourth quarter of the Monday, December 30 game at San Francisco’s Levi’s Stadium, which sideline reporter Lisa Salters did her best to explain.
“He hasn’t gotten any treatment from the medical staff, but he was on his left hip. He had a softball. You’ve probably done that at home when you’ve had a knot in your body somewhere. That’s what it looked like he was doing,” Salters, 58, said.
The broadcast showed Bates on his side with his tongue sticking out, which elicited giggles from broadcasters Joe Buck and Troy Aikman.
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When Salters said Bates was “feeling fine,” Buck joked, “That explains the video.”
Naturally, the clip immediately went viral on social media. Many compared Bates’ pose to Kate Winslet in Titanic, when she asked Leonardo DiCaprio to “draw me like one of your French girls.”
“I don’t know what ESPN showed Jake Bates doing, but I don’t ever want to see that again,” one viewer wrote via X. Another said, “Jake Bates ain’t ever gonna use social media again after he sees all this lmao.”
In addition to becoming the stuff of meme legend, Bates also had a historic kicking performance on Monday night.
Bates set a new franchise single-season record for points scored with 135, passing the previous record of Lions kicker Jason Hanson in 2012.
The kicker hit two field goals on Monday, including a 57-yard bomb, helping the Lions defeat the 49ers 40-34. Detroit improved their record to 14-2 and will host the Minnesota Vikings on Sunday, January 5 with the No. 1 seed in the NFC playoffs on the line.
Bates has become a folk hero for the Lions this season. Last season, Bates was kicking for the Detroit Panthers of the United Football League before signing a deal with the Lions in June.
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When Bates hit a game-winning 52-yard field goal to cap the Lions’ comeback victory over the Houston Texans on November 10, he said the whole experience felt “too good to be true.”
“I think it almost feels too scripted,” he told reporters.
After the Texans win, Bates was lifted up in celebration by his Lions teammates, who are in the midst of trying to win the first Super Bowl in franchise history.
“I’ve never been hoisted like that,” Bates said. “That was pretty cool just to see the sidelines come to embrace me and stuff was a cool moment.”
