San Diego Chargers Kicker Nate Kaeding

The San Diego Chargers have been at the top of their game over the course of the last four seasons, winning the NFL’s AFC West crown in each campaign. This four-season romp through their division has marked the team’s best string of success since the early days of the franchise in the first half of the 1960s. As fans of the team know, however, their appearances in the playoffs have been less than spectacular. Much of the blame for the team’s inability to go deeper into the postseason and win that elusive first Super Bowl trophy has fallen squarely upon the shoulders of the Chargers’ otherwise flawless kicker, Nate Kaeding.

The Hawkeye turned Charger

After being drafted in 2004, most fans in San Diego were satisfied with the pick. After all, Kaeding was a highly touted kicking prospect, and was only there for the choosing due to San Diego’s ability to trade Eli Manning to New York in exchange for Philip Rivers and a few great pick in the draft. Kaeding, a Lou Groza Award winner from the Iowa Hawkeyes college football team, had compiled a stellar record while in college. They didn’t call him for Mister Automatic for nothing. Just consider the numbers: twenty-four of twenty-nine field goals made from over forty-plus yards, and a senior season that saw him miss but one kick all year! Who would have expected him to do anything different when he became a pro?

Regular season success

It’s not as though Kaeding has had no success in a Chargers uniform. As of the 2009 season, he is now the most accurate NFL kicker in history. His percentage of field goals made as a professional kicker now stands at nearly ninety percent! In fact, during each regular season campaign with San Diego, Kaeding has given his all and looked much as he did in his college days back at Kinnick Stadium. During one sixteen-game season, he made all but three of his attempts. Still, when Chargers fans think about their team’s results over the years since Kaeding’s arrival, there is but one thing they remember: the playoff misses.

Missing the big ones

For example, Kaeding missed a 54-yard field goal against the Patriots during the 2006 playoffs. Had he made it, he could have tied the game. Then, in 2007, a missed field goal against Tennessee and one against the Colts could have easily ended the Chargers’ season. They eventually lost to the Patriots that year in the AFC title game. The worst postseason performance came in the 2009 playoffs against the Jets. In that performance, Kaeding missed the only three field goals he attempted. Had he made just one, the game would have gone to overtime – two out of three would have won it.

As it stands, the team’s supporters think of Kaeding as someone who chokes in big situations. Though his fans in Iowa City would vehemently disagree, there is little doubt that he will continue to wear that mantle until he demonstrates with his leg exactly why Iowa fans called him Mister Automatic in the first place.

Freddie Brister is a huge fan of all sports and recommends checking out his San Diego Chargers Watch and San Diego Padres watch at his shop.