More than anything, Philip Rivers explains why sports offer the perfect escape from real-world problems and pain.
We want to see unscripted drama as the boundaries of athletic achievement are redefined. We want to see a 44-year-old quarterback suit up for a desperate playoff contender, the Indianapolis Colts, despite being out of the game for five years.
We want to see a grandfather show the 20-somethings on the other side of the ball a little something about the power of the human spirit.
Rivers might need a healthy supply of Icy Hot balm and Balance of Nature supplements to survive this experience, but you know what? He’s earned the benefit of the doubt.
A quarterback who once played an AFC Championship Game one week after he suffered a torn ACL might just find a way to outfox and out-tough a defender roughly half his age.
You have to give him that fighting chance anyway.
Up front, the eight-time Pro Bowler was merely signed to Indy’s practice squad. But surely this deal wasn’t made without an understanding that Rivers wouldn’t spend the entire playoff push leading the scout team against the first-stringers in practice. The old man will be out there at some point against the Seattle Seahawks or the San Francisco 49ers or the Jacksonville Jaguars or the Houston Texans, firing from the hip on muscle memory.
What a football player. What a time to be a fan of dreamers and long shots who do not fear the consequences of failure. And what a story.
On the day after Rivers’ birthday, this is how J.J. Watt defined the stunning turn of events on X: “Philip Rivers about to be must see TV. This is phenomenal content.”
From an East Coast perspective, Rivers always made that final half-hour of the late Sunday TV window a blast while slinging passes all over the lot. Sometimes he won and sometimes he lost, but the entertainment value was hard to beat.
Rivers has been out of the league since his 2020 season with the Colts, which followed his epic 16-year run with the Los Angeles Chargers. He has been coaching ball at St. Michael Catholic High School in Fairhope, Alabama, where one of his 10 children, Gunner, is a big-time college prospect as a quarterback. What else?
But with Daniel Jones lost to a torn Achilles, Riley Leonard dealing with a bum knee and Anthony Richardson Sr. already on injured reserve, the Colts had nowhere to turn.
Nowhere other than Rivers, who happens to be four years older than Colts head coach Shane Steichen, the quarterback’s dear friend and former position coach and coordinator with the Chargers.
Everyone who watched Rivers’ 2020 season understands that he was nowhere near washed up as an NFL player. The quarterback went 11-5 and threw for 4,169 yards and 24 touchdowns. In his wild-card playoff loss to Josh Allen’s Buffalo Bills, Rivers threw for 309 yards and two scores.
That’s why San Francisco coach Kyle Shanahan had him on standby for the Super Bowl in case his quarterback-depleted 2022 Niners survived the NFC Championship Game against the Philadelphia Eagles (they didn’t). Hey, Rivers is a semifinalist for the Hall of Fame Class of 2026 for a reason.
In the very likely event he’s promoted off the practice squad, Rivers will be willing to delay his Canton candidacy for five years because he still thinks he’s got it. Of course he does. Rivers would never have built this kind of career without a blind belief in himself.
He threw for 421 touchdowns, sixth all time, and for 63,440 yards, seventh all time. He delivered 29 fourth-quarter comebacks, more than the likes of Joe Montana. He finished (we thought) as one of only two quarterbacks in NFL history (Brett Favre) to start at least 250 consecutive games, including the postseason, and including the AFC title game at New England in January 2008, when he enhanced his living legend status by playing on one leg against an unbeaten opponent.
In 2008, Philip Rivers famously played against the New England Patriots in the AFC Championship Game six days after suffering a torn ACL and meniscus in his knee. (Al Bello / Getty Images)
“I always wanted to be tough like the offensive linemen,” Rivers said in July, when he signed a ceremonial contract to retire as a Charger. “I didn’t want to let those guys down.”
Rivers is not going to let anyone down here. Either he can still pick apart NFL secondaries, or he can’t. We will find out soon enough.
But he’s got a strong offensive line to protect him, and he’s got a game that should continue to age well. Rivers has never relied on his legs to beat anyone, so nothing changes there. He will be planted in the pocket at age 44 just like he was at age 24. And he will still be talking trash in that delightful Southern drawl of his, free of any profanity that might offend the pass rushers who try to crush him.
When activated, Rivers will officially replace Shedeur Sanders as the easiest NFL player to root for. People love comebacks. People love underdogs.
But people really love old guys making young guys look kinda silly.
George Foreman reclaimed the heavyweight championship at age 45. Jack Nicklaus won his sixth and final Masters title at age 46. Tom Brady won his seventh and final Super Bowl title at age 43. Gordie Howe scored 15 goals and passed for 26 assists in an NHL season that he finished at age 52. Tom Watson was one putt away from winning the Open Championship and his ninth major at age 59.
Philip Rivers never played in a Super Bowl, let alone won one. And chances are, nothing about this transaction will alter that fact.
But everyone involved will get something profound out of it whenever Rivers takes the field. Namely, a reminder of everything that makes sports great.