The Chargers Tried a Fair Catch Kick for the First Time in Almost 50 Years

There may be no professional sport with more rules than the NFL. Football is an inherently complicated sport, and it takes years to understand all of the rules and why they exist. Sometimes, though, even fans who thought they understood the game well will be surprised by a rule they had never heard of.

During the Los Angeles Chargers game against the Denver Broncos on Dec. 19, the Chargers did something called a fair catch kick just before halftime. The obscure rule has not been used in almost 50 years, and now, many want to know what the rule is and why it made sense to invoke it under these circumstances.

A fair catch kick is a rule at both the high school and professional football levels that says that if you call for a fair catch after the other team punts the ball and you successfully complete the fair catch, you can then attempt a free kick from the spot where the ball was caught.

If the free kick goes through the opposing team's uprights, it's a field goal, and the kicking team is awarded three points.

That's exactly what the Chargers did just before halftime in their game against the Broncos, confusing many who weren't aware that such a rule even existed.

The rule has its origins in rugby, although it's largely been eliminated from the rules in that sport. The fair catch kick is rarely attempted, in part because most fair catches are made well outside of the range where it might be possible for a kicker to make a field goal.

Even if the fair catch is made as the clock expires, a fair catch kick can still be attempted, because the rules allow for the game to be extended for that kind of attempt.

Now that kickers are making kicks from 60+ yards, it seems possible that we might see more fair catch kick attempts in the future.

Even if a team has confidence in their kicker, though, there are still reasons why you might not choose to attempt one. Allowing your offense to run plays from scrimmage could put you in a better position for a field goal attempt, or allow you to score even more points with a touchdown.

If you're running short on time, though, a fair catch kick might be a logical way to try to get more points on the board, especially if the catch is made within your kicker's range.

The attention to detail that coach Jim Harbaugh and his staff have is the only reason that this kind of play could even be attempted. There are probably organizations inside the NFL that weren't even aware this rule existed.

Now that they know about it, there may be an entire wave of organizations that try to take advantage of the rule to get their team some points. It's not a rule that should be invoked in every game, but maybe more than once every 50 years.