Any fan of football who keeps up with the rise and fall of the various franchises surely knows that the San Diego Chargers have been on a roll over the last few seasons. Winners of their Western AFC division for four years running, the team has been seeing its best days since the hallowed glory of the early Sixties. Unfortunately, their postseason record has failed to lead to a Super Bowl win. For many fans, the majority of blame for that fact can be traced directly to the man responsible for kicking the ball through the uprights on field goal attempts: kicker Nate Kaeding.

The Hawkeye Turned Charger

Chosen by the Chargers fresh out of the draft in 2004, San Diego fans had high hopes for Kaeding. He was a part of the now famous Manning/Rivers deal that saw the Giants give San Diego Philip Rivers and several high picks in exchange for Manning. There were reasons enough to believe that Kaeding could fulfill his role as kicker: as the kicker for the Iowa Hawkeyes, he was called Mister Automatic since he rarely missed. From 40 or more yards, he was one of the best in all of college football, with career totals of twenty nine attempts and only five misses. His senior year saw him miss but one from that range. There was little reason to even suspect that his steady leg would do anything but garner the same results for his new team in the National Football League.

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.

The Ones that Count

The list of playoff field goal misses is heartbreaking for Chargers fans. There is the 54 yard attempt that cost the team a 2006 playoff game versus the Patriots. And the 2007 playoff misses against the Colts and Titans. Though the Chargers won those games (only to then lose to New England in the Championship game of the AFC) the memory of the misses still roils the team’s fans. Of course, the most painful miss of all came in last year’s playoffs when Kaeding erred on all three attempts of the game, giving the Jets a three-point victory. As any Charger fan would point out, making even one of those attempts would have resulted in a tie and overtime.

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.

Author Bio: Ivan Jamison is a big sports fan. You can check out his San Diego Chargers Watch or his Los Angeles Dodgers Watch or his New York Mets Watch

Category: Sports
Keywords: San Diego Chargers