Philip Rivers: how a 44-year-old grandpa nearly pulled off one of the NFL’s greatest comebacks | Indianapolis Colts

IIs the quarterback position the most demanding in sports? It’s close enough to make no difference: Players must memorize a complicated playbook, orchestrate an entire offense, look for open receivers while 280-pound opponents sprint toward them with violent intent, then throw a pass to a target who might be 30 yards downfield amid a crowd of defenders. Now try doing all of that as a 44-year-old grandfather, exactly 1,800 days since your last NFL game.

Philip Rivers broke that historic streak for the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday. The longest layoff previously belonged to another 44-year-old quarterback who returned to action after years away from playing and some time coaching – Steve Deberg for the Atlanta Falcons in 1998.

After injuries to starting quarterback Daniel Jones and rookie Riley Leonard, the main reason the Colts invested in this seeming impossibility in the first place is Rivers’ familiarity with head coach Shane Steichen’s passing game. Steichen worked closely with Rivers for several years at the Chargers, where the quarterback played most of his 16-season career before his first retirement, so at least the offensive designs and play calls would be familiar.

At St. Michael Catholic High School in Fairhope, Ala., where Rivers had been the head coach since 2021, Rivers’ players were excited and swore the offensive journey there was similar to the one Steichen ran with Rivers, and a familiar iteration of what Steichen now runs with the Colts. Without that previous Rivers-Steichen connection, asking the old guy to come back and face any NFL defense, let alone a Seahawks defense that came into this game ranked first overall in DVOA, would have been the ultimate fool’s errand.

And Sunday’s game went as well as initially expected. Rivers had a bit of the old Sonny Jurgensen instinct, and as for the speed of his throws… well, my Guardian colleague Ollie Connolly had some jokes.

But as the game wore on, Rivers’ immense football intelligence — which didn’t diminish at the same rate as his body — showed just enough to give the Seahawks’ top-ranked defense a run for its money in their own stadium. Ultimately, Rivers completed 18 of 26 passes for 120 yards, one touchdown, one interception and a passer rating of 91.8, and it was his 16-yard conversion on third-and-7 on a backfield ball to receiver Alec Pierce that helped set up what looked like Blake Grupe’s game-winning 60-yard field goal with 47 seconds left.

However…Seahawks kicker Jason Myers, who made six total field goals in Seattle’s 18-16 victory, kicked the real winner of the match with 22 seconds on the clock. Rivers’ subsequent deep interception to safety Coby Bryant with 11 seconds left brought down the curtain.

Regardless of the outcome, what Rivers did after such a long time away was remarkable and unprecedented in NFL history. To travel over 2,000 miles to the toughest stadium in the NFL and achieve this performance shows the power of the football mind, if the football body is able to do just enough with it. The 8-6 Colts have the San Francisco 49ers, Jacksonville Jaguars and Houston Texans to finish the regular season, a brutal final slate. But it will be fascinating to see what Rivers can accomplish with more reps in the coming weeks. One thing he doesn’t worry about is the physical aspect of the game.

“It never bothered me,” Rivers said Sunday. “My wife always tells me I’m crazy because there have been times over the last three or four years where I’ve said, ‘I wish I could throw one and get hit – hard.'”

Video of the week

If a video is worth a thousand words, it would be the clip of what happened to Patrick Mahomes with two minutes left in the Kansas City Chiefs’ 16-13 loss to the Chargers. Mahomes was trying to drive his team to the basket when he suffered a torn ACL, a season-ending injury.

The result means the 6-8 Chiefs will miss the playoffs for the first time since 2014. During that span, they won three Super Bowls and reached the AFC Championship Game seven times, and much of that success was due to the brilliance of Mahomes. The Chiefs, who have a litany of issues to resolve this offseason, may not have the face of their franchise ready to go when the 2026 season begins.

MVP of the week

Trevor Lawrence, QB, Jacksonville Jaguars. Sometimes it takes a while for a quarterback to master a new offense. This has been the case with Lawrence this season and his ability to put new head coach Liam Coen’s system under his belt. Coen was hired to develop Lawrence into the “generational” talent promised when the franchise selected him with the first overall pick in the 2021 draft. Lawrence has faced all kinds of obstacles, from mediocre players around him, to having Urban Meyer as head coach during his rookie campaign, to three different offensive coordinators in five years, to his own mechanical issues.

Coen had built his capital on his time on Sean McVay’s coaching staff with the Los Angeles Rams and the fabulous job he did as offensive coordinator of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers with Baker Mayfield in 2024. Still, it initially looked like an uneasy partnership. In Weeks 1–12, Lawrence completed 220 of 368 passes for 2,407 yards, 14 touchdowns, 11 interceptions and a passer rating of 79.4, which ranked 27th among NFL quarterbacks. But from Week 13 through Sunday’s 48-20 win over the New York Jets, Lawrence was a completely different player, completing 53 of 89 passes for 803 yards, nine touchdowns, no interceptions and a 123.0 quarterback rating.

On Sunday, Lawrence threw for six touchdowns – five through the air and one on the ground. The Jaguars are 10-4, and their opponents will be wondering how to stop this suddenly wonderful offense once the playoffs are over.

Statistic of the week

120. This is the number of consecutive games won by the New England Patriots in which they led by 21 points or more. This NFL-best run came to an end on Sunday, as the Buffalo Bills came back from a 21-0 second-quarter deficit to win 35-31 and keep their AFC East hopes alive. Early on, the Patriots, now 11-3, looked like an unstoppable machine, while the 10-4 Bills couldn’t help but trip over themselves.

The Bills had to do something to turn things around, and they did. In the second half, Allen completed 13 of 20 passes for 158 yards and two touchdowns. Buffalo’s sketchy defense also stepped up in the running game, while James Cook had two rushing touchdowns.

Buffalo, which had won the division in each of the last five seasons, and New England, which had won it every year from 2009 to 2019, split their 2025 series. The Bills have the Cleveland Browns, Philadelphia Eagles and Jets on their regular season schedule, while the Patriots have the Jets, Baltimore Ravens and Miami Dolphins. Right now, it looks like the AFC East could belong to either team.

Elsewhere in the league

– Since the Cincinnati Bengals selected him with the first overall pick in the 2020 draft, Joe Burrow has been one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL… when he was allowed to be. Burrow has been hurt by horrible defenses and struggling offensive lines of late, and while he has one of the NFL’s best receiving duos in Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins, the Bengals’ 4-10 record this season isn’t what Burrow — who missed much of the season with turf toe — or anyone else had in their hopes.

Perhaps more disconcerting were comments Burrow made before Cincinnati’s 24-0 loss Sunday to the Baltimore Ravens. “If I’m going to keep doing this, I’ve got to have fun doing it,” the quarterback said. “I’ve been through a lot, and if it’s not fun, then why am I doing it? So that’s the mindset I try to bring to the table.”

That’s not to say Burrow is on the brink of a surprise retirement like Andrew Luck was in 2019 — and the man himself has said he’s committed to the team — but as the Bengals limp through the end of the regular season and begin to formulate their plans for the future, it’s worth watching a bit.

– Say hello to the Denver Broncos, who now own the best record in the NFL at 12-2, and became one of two teams to clinch a playoff spot on Sunday. Denver did it by beating the Green Bay Packers, 34-26, and the 9-4-1 Packers may well have lost more than just the game. Receiver Christian Watson, perhaps the team’s most important offensive player not named Jordan Love, suffered what appeared to be a serious chest injury, and edge rusher Micah Parsons, arguably the team’s most important defensive player, reportedly tore his ACL, ending his season. Parsons’ injury is particularly brutal for the Packers, who gave up their 2026 and 2027 first-round picks, as well as defensive tackle Kenny Clark, for the four-time Pro Bowler. Parsons had been great for Green Bay, and without him, the Packers’ pressure opportunities look nothing like they did with him.

– Back on the Denver side, second-year quarterback Bo Nix threw four touchdowns against Jeff Hafley’s complicated defense. Nix is ​​one of the main reasons, along with Denver’s monstrous defense, why no one should want to go near the Mile High City in the playoffs.

– The Seahawks may have (barely) escaped embarrassment against the Colts on Sunday, but they have very little time to take advantage. They host the Los Angeles Rams at Lumen Field on Thursday, and the Rams are coming off their 41-34 defense-optional victory over the Detroit Lions. At 11-3, the Rams became the first team to clinch a playoff spot, and if they beat the Seahawks (also 11-3) at home, they will sweep the season series and the NFC West will essentially be theirs. In the first meeting between these two teams, Seattle nearly won despite Sam Darnold’s four interceptions, and the Rams have been Darnold’s nemesis the past two seasons. Darnold has had a hot start to the season, his first with the Seahawks, but the offense has been a bit stuck since that Week 11 loss. Now it’s time for Darnold to tell those old ghosts to go away.