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There were plenty of reasons why the Los Angeles Chargers lost to the Houston Texans on Saturday, but the most shocking one was the fact that Cameron Dicker had the first meltdown of his career.

The Chargers kicker cost his team four points with a missed 32-yard field goal and a missed extra point in the 20-16 loss. Dicker missing two short kicks in one game might have been the most statistically improbable kicking meltdown the NFL has ever seen. Going into Week 17, Dicker had made 94.1% of his field goal attempts, which makes him the most accurate kicker in NFL history (No other kicker is even at 90%). 

Dicker had never missed two kicks in one game in his entire career, but that changed against Houston. The first miss came with just under 20 seconds left to play in the first half. After Elijah Molden came up with a huge interception, that set the Chargers up with the ball in Houston territory. The Chargers drive eventually came to an end at Houston's 14-yard line and that's when Dicker was sent out for a 32-yard field goal, a kick that's usually automatic for him. And when we say automatic, we mean automatic: Going into Saturday's game, Dicker had NEVER missed a field goal from inside 40 yards in his career (He was 68 of 68). But then that streak came to a sudden end. 

The kick would have cut Houston's lead to 14-6, but with the miss, the Texans went into halftime with a 14-3 lead.  

The only thing more stunning then Dicker's field goal miss was his missed extra point, which came with just over three minutes left to play in the fourth quarter. After a 5-yard touchdown run by Omarion Hampton cut the lead to 20-16, Dicker had a chance to trim the lead to just three points, but instead, he shanked the extra point.

Going into that kick, Dicker had made 57 straight extra points in the regular season. 

It's impossible to say how the game would have played out if Dicker made both of those kicker, but it's very possible that the Chargers would have taken the Texans to overtime. 

Let's to a quick recap of Dicker's stunning meltdown: 

  • He missed two kicks in a game for the FIRST time in his career
  • He missed a field goal from inside 40 yards for the first time in his career
  • He only had two misses all season on 71 kicks (Field goals and extra points) going into Week 17
  • His streak of 57 straight successful extra points came to an end

And all of this happened to a kicker who was just voted to the Pro Bowl last week as the AFC's kicker. Dicker had only missed a total of two kicks ALL season, which is why he got the Pro Bowl nod. Going into Week 17, he was 36 of 38 on field goals this year, including 19 of 19 from inside 40, and he was 33 of 33 on extra points. 

The only good news for the Chargers is that they've already clinched a playoff spot, so Dicker will likely get a chance to redeem himself in the postseason. 

With the Chargers' loss, the Broncos clinched the AFC West, which means L.A. could be in spot to rest its starters in Week 18 against Denver.