My Philip Rivers Blog

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 Iowa Native

Kaeding was selected by the Chargers in the 2004 Draft. They were only able to get him due to receiving several favorable lottery picks as part of the Eli Manning and Philip Rivers draft/trade deal done that year, and there was quite a bit of excitement surrounding his selection. After all, the Iowa City, Iowa native had earned a national reputation during his college career with the Hawkeyes - even winning the Lou Groza kicking award after the season of 2002. As a Hawkeye, he was known as "Mister Automatic", for his ability to seemingly always make his team's field goals when they were needed most. He was particularly deadly from long range, as he had a career record of 24 forty-plus yard field goals made out of the 29 he attempted. That included twenty out of twenty one made during his senior campaign.

Winning records

Even as a Charger, Kaeding has gone on to set records. During the 2009 season, he became the most accurate kicker in the history of the National Football League with an overall percentage of field goals made that is in excess of eighty-seven percent. Throughout the regular season campaigns in San Diego, his performance in many ways mirrors what he did while at Iowa City. In one season, he missed only three total field goals throughout the sixteen-game season. Unfortunately, all of that is easily overshadowed in the minds of many Chargers fans by his inability to make the important field goals when they matter most: the playoffs.

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.

In the end, Kaeding is now best known by Chargers fans as the kicker who can't make the big kick when his team needs it most. Fairly, or unfairly, that reputation will continue to dog him throughout his time with the team until he once again earns the title "Mister Automatic" by making his field goals in the postseason.

Writer and editor, Freddie Brister, is a former high school coach. Check out his San Diego Chargers Watch or his New York Yankees Watch