Jim Harbaugh dusted off his rule book on Thursday evening and flexed his brain muscles.

The Chargers coach gave his team three free points when the Broncos punted as time expired and instituted a free-kick rule that resulted in Cameron Dicker scoring a 57-yarder as time expired to take the tie to leave half time.

The three points galvanized Los Angeles, which went on a 24-6 run to claim a 34-27 victory.

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

It is the first time in 48 years that a free kick has been successfully taken, probably in part because the circumstances leading up to the game had to be very specific.

A free kick can occur when a team punts after time expires in a half and then incurs an interference penalty on a fair catch. The reception timing can opt for a free kick field goal attempt – which requires the defense to line up further back, similar to a kickoff – or an untimed snapshot from scrimmage.

In this case, punt returner Derius Davis was attempting to fair catch a punt around the Chargers’ 42-yard line when he was obstructed by Tremon Smith, resulting in a 15-yard personal foul penalty at the 43-yard -line of the Broncos was imposed.

Harbaugh chose to kick the 57-yard fair catch kick field goal attempt that Dicker completed rather than sending Justin Herbert out for a Hail Mary.

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

The kicker praised special teams coach Ryan Ficken, who occasionally has the Chargers practice the game.

“Everyone was trying to figure out what was going on,” linebacker Bud Dupree said. “We knew he could do it. We just didn’t understand it. Would there be a two or three point or did we get the ball at the 1? We didn’t know.”

Even without a fair-catch kick penalty, the receiving team may elect to use a fair-catch kick if the time for the punt returner to call a fair catch has expired. However, there is no untimed offensive snap option since there was no penalty.

The last time a free kick field goal was attempted was in 2019 when Panthers kicker Joey Slye missed from 60 yards.

To find the final score, however, you have to go back to 1976, when Ray Wersching converted a 45-yard try to pass for the Chargers, then for San Diego.