There are 14 players on the Chargers’ current that remain from five seasons ago when the Jets visited San Diego for an AFC Wild Card game. For 13 of them, all except long snapper 
That rainy night in January, 2005 had the biggest affect on kicker
“That sticks with you,” said Kaeding, who was named to the Associated Press’ All-Pro First Team Thursday for the first time in his career. “It’s helped me in my career. I definitely learned from it. I’ll be honest with you, it put a chip on my shoulder. I’m a perfectionist and to let one slip away like that hurt.”
In his six NFL season, Kaeding hasn’t missed often, but that 40-yard overtime misfire in his rookie season has helped him become one of the league’s elite kickers today. He says he “tinkers with a few things” every offseason in hopes of seeing his play continually improve, and his numbers say that he’s done just that. This season, he missed just three times in 32 attempts, giving him an NFL-best 91.4 field goal percentage on the season.
For his career, Kaeding has made 87.2 percent of his kicks, making him the most accurate placekicker in NFL history.
“He’s the best I’ve been around and it’s great knowing we have him,” Head Coach Norv Turner recently said of his kicker.
Kaeding’s 52-yard kick with three seconds left against Cincinnati is his only “game winner” of his career in terms of a field goal that gave his team a lead in the final minute. While those last-second kicks draw a lot of attention, Kaeding puts just as much value in the ones he hits throughout the game.
“For me, everyone one of them is important,” said Kaeding, who is a big reason why the Chargers were 8-1 this season in games decided by eight points or less. “It’s easy to look past the ones in the first, second, third quarter, but if you miss them and you miss out on those points, those come back and bite you. For me, it’s taking advantage of every single opportunity that comes your way. That’s what I pride myself on. Every time you’re out there, take those points.”
While the field goal against the Bengals was the only opportunity he received to give the Chargers a lead late, it hardly speaks to how clutch Kaeding was this season. Against the Eagles, he hit a 29-yard kick to push San Diego’s lead to eight points in the final minute and essentially slam the door on a Philadelphia comeback. Three weeks later, his fourth-quarter kick at Cleveland helped hold the Browns at bay, and he gave the Chargers a 10-point lead in the final two minutes against Dallas.
Such kicks could be viewed as game winning one according to the two-time Pro Bowler.
“You have to gear yourself towards those points being the deciding factor,” Kaeding said. “If you don’t buy into the fact that points are going to win games, whether they’re three points at the end of the first drive or three points with one second left, they count the same and they’re going to matter.”
With playoff games often decided by such narrow margins, Kaeding’s presence could be critical this weekend as the Chargers host the Jets in a rematch of that 2004 playoff contest. Turner spoke last week of how particularly crucial Kaeding was early in the season when the Chargers were struggling in the red zone, and facing the NFL’s number one scoring defense in New York, he very well may be needed in such situations again.
“We’ve played great in the red zone of late but when you get against those real good defensive football teams, they’re going to stop you at times,” Turner said. “You’ve got to make the field goals.”
Turner raves about Kaeding’s performance this season and throughout his career. Not only have his kicks given his team much-needed points, Turner believes Kaeding’s accuracy has had a key effect on momentum, something that can never be miscounted.
“When you look at what he’s done, it’s unbelievable,” Head Coach Norv Turner said. “I’ve been on the other end of it where you don’t get the consistency or you don’t get the kicks at the critical times. It takes the life out of a team.”
