INGLEWOOD, Calif. (AP) — Of all the rules in football, Jim Harbaugh considers the obscure fair-catch kick to be his favorite.

The Los Angeles Chargers coach had the opportunity to give it a try for the second time in his career on Thursday night.

This time his kicker got three points from one of the most unusual moves in the sport.

Cameron Dicker made the first successful fair catch in the NFL since 1976 when he connected from 57 yards just before halftime against the Denver Broncos.

“I tried to get one of these in every game. Cam Dicker did it. It was huge and got the momentum back,” Harbaugh said.

These points began the comeback of the Chargers, who fought for a 34:27 victory and ended the game with a 24:6 run.

For football obsessives like Harbaugh, who appreciate oddities and unprecedented achievements, Dicker’s kick was a delight.

The rarely used rule allows a team that has just made a fair catch to attempt a free kick for three points. The kick is attempted from the line of scrimmage and the defenders must all stand 10 yards away.

The move rarely takes place because teams are almost never able to make such a kick possible. Only five NFL teams had tried the kick so far in the 21st century, and none had successfully executed it since Ray Wersching did it for the San Diego Chargers 48 years ago.

“It’s cool. I didn’t know that was the case,” Dicker said of reaching this rare milestone. “It was fun to go out there. It was fun to be in that scenario. With the penalty, I thought that it would happen.”

The Chargers capitalized on the opportunity presented when Denver’s Tremon Smith committed a fair catch interference on the final play of the first half as Los Angeles’ Derius Davis attempted to punt on the Chargers 38.

Smith said he was “well aware” of the fair catch-kick rule when the Chargers subsequently lined up for it.

“I’ve been playing for a long time,” Smith added. “It’s just a stupid punishment. … The returnee sold it well. He knows he’s running towards me, even if he didn’t want to catch the ball. But like I said, stupid punishment.”

The flag moved the ball to the Denver 47 on an untimed down, and Harbaugh took a timeout before opting for the fair catch kick.

While JK Scott held the ball, Dicker comfortably shot it through the posts.

Dicker said special teams coach Ryan Ficken goes over the game often during the season and that they sometimes practice it on Fridays. Harbaugh also praised Ficken, who brought it up again in meetings leading up to this game.

“Looking at (Denver’s) sideline was funny. They were confused as to what was going on. We talk about it every week, so it was normal for us,” Dicker said.

Many of the Broncos said they actually knew what was going on and were disappointed to be on the wrong side of history.

“It’s something we talk about in our special teams group, and it’s one of those situations you go through in training camp,” Denver receiver Marvin Mims said. “So we all knew what was going to happen and they executed it perfectly.”

Dicker’s 57-yarder was also the longest fair-catch kick in NFL history, surpassing Paul Hornung’s 52-yarder for Green Bay in 1964.

The last fair catch kick in the NFL was attempted in 2019 when Carolina’s Joey Slye missed from 60 yards in a game in London.

Harbaugh also tried it with the San Francisco 49ers in 2013, but Phil Dawson missed from 71 yards just before halftime.

“I wanted it so bad that I tried it,” Harbaugh said looking back. “I was also really happy because Coach Ficken talked about it this week. We took some time out and got things under control. It should be on their side of 50. This was our chance.”

The game is extremely rare as most fair catches occur well outside normal field goal range. The Broncos’ punt would have stranded the Chargers out of Dicker’s considerable reach, but Smith’s penalty created a rare opportunity – and Dicker didn’t miss.

“I was definitely confused,” Chargers edge rusher Joey Bosa said. “I was ready to go to the locker room, but I’m glad we had a chance. I was just joking that you can play for 20 years and still have no idea what’s happening on the field. So it was a good moment. It was an important change in momentum.”

Wersching, who played in 15 NFL seasons for the Chargers and 49ers, made a 45-yard fair catch kick at halftime in San Diego against Buffalo on November 21, 1976.

“Not much happens,” Denver coach Sean Payton said. “We practice it all the time. In that situation, the penalty put them in field goal position, so it’s disappointing.”

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AP Sports Writer Joe Reedy contributed to this report.

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