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.

Hawkeye greatness

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 like Kaeding has had a rough time with his regular season kicking game. He became the NFL's top kicker in the accuracy department as of the 2009 campaign, compiling a statistical success rate of nearly ninety percent since coming into the League. In that respect, he has had identical results to those he achieved as a college kicker in his Iowa career. As a Charger, he even had a season in which he made nearly every field goal he kicked - only three misses in his sixteen games. Fans forget all about that, though, since none of that gets to the heart of their concern: the man gives no indication that he can ever make the crucial kick when the season is on the line.

Missing the big ones

Take the fifty-plus yarder that he missed during the 2006 playoff game with the Patriots. At the time, it would have led to a tie and overtime. Or take the 2007 playoff misfires in games against the Titans and Colts. Either miss, had the game been closer, might have resulted in an early postseason exit (forget the fact that the Patriots eventually ousted them from Super Bowl contention anyway). And then there's the biggest heartache of all: last season's three misses during a playoff game with the Jets. They were the only three kicks he attempted in the game, and had he made any of them, the game might have ended very differently.

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.

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