Buffalo Bills placekicker Tyler Bass (2) reacts after missing a field goal against the Kansas City Chiefs during the fourth quarter of an NFL AFC division playoff football game, Sunday, Jan. 21, 2024, in Orchard Park, N.Y. AP photo

Following the loss of the Buffalo Bills during their playoff game against the Kansas City Chiefs, Bills Kicker Tyler Bass has received ridicule and bullying from fans of both sides.

This bullying, which comes after Bass missed the field goal during the remaining minute of the fourth quarter, has escalated to the point where he has deactivated all social media accounts because of death threats.

Jeff Winton, founder and chairman of Rural Minds, a local nonprofit agency out of Mayville focused on being the voice for mental health in rural America and providing mental health information and resources, has since posted a message of support for Bass on his Facebook page.

“Now I am a lifelong Bills fan having grown up in Western New York, and I want to see a Super Bowl win by this team as much as anyone,” Winton said in the post. “But it is unconscionable and reprehensible to blame and threaten this young man for the Bills losing the game. At best, it would have tied the game, and his was far from the only error made by the Bills during this game.”

Winton’s post also described Bass’s support of the Ten Lives Club, a nonprofit in Buffalo that works to rescue and rehome unwanted cats. Since the bullying of Bass has occurred, the Ten Lives Club has received a multitude of donations in support of Bass, exceeding $180,000 as of Tuesday night.

When speaking with The Post-Journal, Winton said he felt the need to post after seeing multiple Facebook posts and comments from people who were attacking Bass.

“I have been a lifelong Bills fan, so I was very disheartened and alarmed at the remarks being made about the Bills kicker,” Winton said. “I’m not a diehard football fan so I don’t know much about him, but I know he has been responsible for some wins throughout the season which people seem to forget now.”

While Winton did not see Bass disengage his social media personally, he heard about it from others, and also heard that Bass’s fiance also had to leave social media because of threats. Winton said cyber bullying is one of Rural Mind’s big focuses as it has been responsible for many suicides along with increasing anxiety, depression and substance abuse. After doing research, Winton found that 41% of adults in the United States experience cyber bullying, with 64% of younger people ages 18 to 29 experiencing it. Victims in middle school are twice as likely to commit suicide and most of the cyber bullying occurs on Facebook over other social media sites.

“You think about this happening to younger people, but it also happens to adults, including professional athletes and famous people,” Winton said. “Someone who saw my post also reached out saying they were concerned with cyber bullying Taylor Swift was also receiving after the game.”

Winton said he was moved enough by hearing about Bass’s bullying that he woke up and wrote the post before heading out to his morning chores at Wall Street Dairy. Since then the post has gotten over 300 reactions and 91 shares. Winton expressed his surprise about this and about the amount of people he had reach out saying they were glad someone finally came out and said something.

“I had all kinds of people reach out and say they were glad someone spoke out, because it is just a game,” Winton said. “I just felt so badly for the guy.”

Winton was also impressed with Bills quarterback Josh Allen, who went and consoled Bass after the loss, saying this “speaks volumes” for the heart of Allen and the team.

While social media can help people stay connected, Winton said instances like this show the bad side of it as well.

“Social media is a double edged sword,” Winton said. “It is how we keep up with the world but there is also a dark side which is growing in severity. In the last 30 days 23% of middle and high schoolers have been cyber bullied, including someone from my own family, again about the game.”

Something Winton tells people a lot is that you can control your own social media page, including friend requests and deleting comments. He added that he had even experienced his own form of cyber bullying with his post on Bass, which was not from someone he knew but a friend of a friend because the post was shared so much. Eventually he ended up blocking the person.

Social media and cyber bullying is also something Rural Minds focuses on, Winton said, because in rural areas it can be the best way to connect with people when neighbors may live miles away. With this, Rural Minds has recently started a new Resilience Program which allows for rural communities to hold their own meetings and talk about mental illness issues, including cyber bullying. Rural Minds has also recently been selected as the 2023 STARR Coalition Advocacy Organization of the Year, which Winton said is a great honor.

On the back of the helmets of the Bills players appears the slogan “choose love” following an increase in gun violence in the US. Winton said he thought that was ironic when faced with this cyber bullying, but that it is also what it all boils down to.

“It all boils down to compassion and how we treat others,” Winton said. “We need to put ourselves in the other person’s shoes. Mental illness is an illness that might not be seen on the outside like cancer or Parkinsons, and people who live with mental illness might not always show it. They can be subject to cruel comments because people might not know they are suffering and this is a huge problem in this country and rural America. We need to be compassionate and show love.”