Nathaniel James Kaeding is an American former football placekicker who played in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Iowa Hawkeyes, earning consensus All-American honors and winning the Lou Groza Award. He was selected in the third round of the 2004 NFL draft by the San Diego Chargers, where he played for nine seasons.
The National Football League playoffs for the 1981 season began on December 27, 1981. The postseason tournament concluded with the San Francisco 49ers defeating the Cincinnati Bengals in Super Bowl XVI, 26–21, on January 24, 1982, at the Pontiac Silverdome in Pontiac, Michigan.
Nicholas Ryan Novak is an American former professional football placekicker. He played college football at Maryland and was signed by the Chicago Bears as an undrafted free agent in 2005.
In National Football League (NFL) lore, the Freezer Bowl was the 1981 AFC Championship Game between the San Diego Chargers and the Cincinnati Bengals. The game was played on January 10, 1982, at Cincinnati's Riverfront Stadium, and televised by NBC, with announcers Dick Enberg and Merlin Olsen. The game, won by the Bengals, 27–7, was played in the coldest temperature in NFL history in terms of wind chill. Air temperature was −9 °F (−23 °C), but the wind chill, factoring in a sustained wind of 27 miles per hour (43 km/h), was reported as −59 °F (−51 °C) under the calculation method then in use.
Louis James Kelcher is an American former professional football player who was a defensive tackle in the National Football League (NFL), spending most of his career with the San Diego Chargers. He was a four-time All-Pro and a three-time Pro Bowl selection. Kelcher was inducted into the Chargers Hall of Fame and is a member of their 40th and 50th anniversary teams.
Vincent Steven Abbott is an English-born former American football player. Born in London, Abbott played at the University of Washington, then transferred to Cal State Fullerton, and went undrafted in 1981. He played for the USFL for the Los Angeles Express. During the 1987 pre-season, Abbott went 7 for 8 on field goals, four over 40 yards beating out veteran kicker Rolf Benirschke.
The Epic in Miami was the National Football League AFC divisional playoff game between the San Diego Chargers and Miami Dolphins that took place on January 2, 1982 in the Miami Orange Bowl. The game, won by the Chargers in overtime, 41–38, is one of the most famous in National Football League lore because of the enormity of scoring, the conditions on the field, the performances of players on both teams, and the numerous records that were set.
Kurt Benirschke was a German-American pathologist, geneticist and expert on the placenta and reproduction in humans and myriad mammalian species. At the San Diego Zoo, he created the world's first frozen zoo for the cryopreservation of genetic material from endangered species.
The San Diego Chargers were a professional American football team in the National Football League (NFL). The Chargers played in San Diego from 1961 until the end of the 2016 season, before relocating back to Los Angeles, where the franchise had played its inaugural 1960 season. The team is now known as the Los Angeles Chargers.
The 1987 San Diego Chargers was the franchise's 18th season in the National Football League (NFL), and the 28th overall. The team improved on their 4–12 record in 1986, finishing 8–7 but missing the playoffs. A players’ strike reduced the regular season schedule from sixteen to fifteen games. The Chargers started the season 8–1, with victories over eventual division winners Indianapolis and Cleveland, before collapsing to lose their final six games of the season, narrowly missing the playoffs. All but one of their final six losses came to teams that made the postseason.
The 1983 San Diego Chargers season was the franchise’s 14th season in the National Football League (NFL) and its 24th overall. The Chargers fell from their 1982 6–3 record to 6–10. It was their first losing season since 1976, to date the most points the Chargers have surrendered in a sixteen-game season, and began an era in the wilderness for the Chargers, who would not place higher than third in the AFC West, nor win more than eight games in a season, until 1992.
The 1982 San Diego Chargers season was the team's 23rd year, and 13th in the National Football League. The team had a 10–6 record in 1981. 1982 was a strike-shortened season so the league was divided up into two conferences instead of its normal divisional alignment — the Chargers finished 6–3, qualifying for the playoffs as the #5 seed. Their run ended with a second round loss to the Dolphins. This would prove the team's last playoff appearance until 1992.
The 1981 San Diego Chargers season was the franchise's 12th season in the National Football League (NFL) and its 22nd overall. The team failed to improve on their 11–5 record from 1980 but they did retain the AFC West Division title for the third consecutive year, finishing 10–6. In the playoffs, they beat the Dolphins in a classic game known as the Epic in Miami then lost to the Bengals in a frigid game known as the Freezer Bowl.
The 1980 San Diego Chargers season was the franchise's 11th season in the National Football League (NFL), and its 21st overall. The team failed to improve on their 12–4 record in 1979 and finished 11–5, though they won the AFC West and gained the top seed in the AFC playoffs for the second consecutive season. Their season ended in the AFC Championship Game when they lost to their divisional rivals and the eventual Super Bowl champions, the Oakland Raiders.
The 1979 San Diego Chargers season was the team's twentieth season, and tenth in the National Football League. The 1979 Chargers finished in first place in the AFC West after having finished 9–7 in 1978. The Chargers made the playoffs for the first time in fourteen years. At 12–4 the Chargers shared the best record in the AFC with the Pittsburgh Steelers, and were awarded the top AFC seed because they beat the Steelers in the regular season. This would remain their best record during the Coryell era.
The 1978 San Diego Chargers season was the team's 19th season, and ninth in the National Football League.
The 1981 Buffalo Bills season was the franchise's 12th season in the National Football League, and the 22nd overall.
The 1981 Miami Dolphins season was the 16th year of existence for the Miami Dolphins franchise and 12th in the National Football League (NFL). After a mediocre season in 1980, where the team finished at 8-8 and missed the playoffs, the Dolphins made a return to the playoffs, winning the AFC East with an 11-4-1 record.
The Chargers–Chiefs rivalry is an American football rivalry between the National Football League (NFL)'s Los Angeles Chargers and Kansas City Chiefs. Since the American Football League (AFL) was established in 1960, the Chargers and the Chiefs have shared the same division, first being the AFL Western Conference, and since the AFL–NFL merger, the American Football Conference (AFC) West. Following the Raiders' move to Las Vegas (Chiefs) and the Rams' return to Los Angeles, they are now the farthest apart two teams in the same division.
Joaquin Zendejas Jr. is a Mexican former placekicker in the National Football League (NFL) for the New England Patriots. He played college football at the University of La Verne.
