{"id":637313,"date":"2025-12-29T08:56:21","date_gmt":"2025-12-29T08:56:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/637313\/"},"modified":"2025-12-29T08:56:21","modified_gmt":"2025-12-29T08:56:21","slug":"philip-rivers-gets-emotional-as-bonus-games-with-colts-might-be-over-with-team-eliminated","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/637313\/","title":{"rendered":"Philip Rivers gets emotional as \u2018bonus games\u2019 with Colts might be over with team eliminated"},"content":{"rendered":"

INDIANAPOLIS \u2014 Philip Rivers has made the postgame walk to answer tough questions dozens of times over his previous 17 NFL seasons.<\/p>\n

This time seemed different.<\/p>\n

With the Indianapolis Colts having been eliminated from the postseason for a fifth consecutive year even before Rivers and his teammates took the field Sunday, the 44-year-old Pro Football Hall of Fame semifinalist knows he may have taken his last snap.<\/p>\n

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\u201cIt\u2019s been an absolute blast for three weeks and if I go back now and said, \u2018All right, now you know everything that\u2019s going to happen, what are you going to do? I\u2019d do it all again,\u2019\u201d Rivers said after the Colts lost 23-17 to Jacksonville. \u201cSo, yeah, if it\u2019s the last one, it\u2019s the last one. I thought the last one was walking off the field in Buffalo (in January 2021), walking up that tunnel and I was fine with that. I had tears those few days after that and I was at peace with that being the last one. So, certainly, if it is (the last one), I got three more bonus games that I never saw coming.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Indianapolis<\/p>\n

Indianapolis Colts quarterback Philip Rivers speaks during a news conference following an NFL football game against the Jacksonville Jaguars Sunday, Dec. 28, 2025. AP<\/p>\n

Rivers provided two elements the Colts (8-8) needed when they brought him out of a five-year retirement. His passion energized the locker room after Daniel Jones suffered a season-ending torn Achilles tendon, and he gave the Colts a chance to pull themselves out of a historic second-half swoon in which they became just the sixth team since 1970 \u2014 and the first in 30 years \u2014 to start 7-1 and miss the playoffs.<\/p>\n

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But Rivers has lost all three of his starts, with the Colts\u2019 overall skid now at six games.<\/p>\n

His late interception at Seattle ended the Colts\u2019 bid for a miracle rally. And an interception Sunday on a tipped ball allowed the Jags (12-4) to kick the tiebreaking field goal with 6:58 to play.<\/p>\n

While Rivers took accountability for both miscues with his typical down-home demeanor, he knows he\u2019s not the face of the Colts\u2019 future.<\/p>\n

So with one meaningless game remaining next weekend at Houston, the Colts could give Rivers one more start, but it might make sense for them to take a look at Anthony Richardson \u2014 the No. 4 overall draft pick in 2023 \u2014 or rookie Riley Leonard. Richardson has not been activated from the injured reserve list but has started practicing.<\/p>\n

\"Indianapolis<\/p>\n

Indianapolis Colts quarterback Philip Rivers speaks during a news conference following an NFL football game against the Jacksonville Jaguars Sunday, Dec. 28, 2025 AP<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll figure that out Tuesday,\u201d coach Shane Steichen said.<\/p>\n

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If Rivers\u2019 career is over, again, five years after he left the first time, he has no regrets.<\/p>\n

He rented a place in Indianapolis, moved his entire family back to Indy for the final month of the season and brought dozens of players from St. Michael Catholic High School in Fairhope, Alabama \u2014 where he\u2019s the head coach \u2014 to Lucas Oil Stadium to watch his home finale.<\/p>\n

In career start No. 423, Rivers surpassed Hall of Famer Warren Moon as the fourth-oldest quarterback to start in the NFL. Rivers played at 44 years, 20 days; Moon was 44 years and eight days.<\/p>\n

If he makes start No. 424, Rivers would pass Vinny Testaverde \u2014 44 years and 26 days \u2014 as the third oldest, trailing only Steve DeBerg and seven-time Super Bowl champion Tom Brady.<\/p>\n

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Rivers ranks sixth in league history in TD passes with 425 and is eighth on the career yards passing list with 63,984 \u2014 just behind Matthew Stafford and 105 yards away from moving past two-time Super Bowl winner Ben Roethlisberger.<\/p>\n

Rivers knows he may not get that chance.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m going to be on board and supportive of whatever the organization, Shane and whoever, however that decision is going to come to be,\u201d Rivers said. \u201cI\u2019m sure I\u2019ll have some conversation. It won\u2019t just be a blind-side Tuesday conversation for me. And I\u2019m going to be on board to do what\u2019s best for the guys.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"INDIANAPOLIS \u2014 Philip Rivers has made the postgame walk to answer tough questions dozens of times over his…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":637314,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2059],"tags":[6594,69603,2005,2772,7,221,2004,392,2381,212,125,32,6,3725,747,237,1369],"class_list":{"0":"post-637313","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-indianapolis-colts","8":"tag-ben-roethlisberger","9":"tag-bonus-games","10":"tag-colts","11":"tag-daniel-jones","12":"tag-football","13":"tag-houston","14":"tag-indianapolis","15":"tag-indianapolis-colts","16":"tag-indianapoliscolts","17":"tag-jacksonville","18":"tag-jacksonville-jaguars","19":"tag-matthew-stafford","20":"tag-nfl","21":"tag-philip-rivers","22":"tag-riley-leonard","23":"tag-seattle","24":"tag-tom-brady"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115802026039686187","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/637313","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=637313"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/637313\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/637314"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=637313"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=637313"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=637313"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}