Most woke up this morning to the news that Philip Rivers had announced his retirement from the NFL after 17 seasons, 16 with San Diego and his final this past year with the Indianapolis Colts. Kevin Acee, long time reporter for the Chargers at the San Diego Tribune got to break the news, a stand up move by Rivers. Talk about an all time cuck of Biden getting sworn in today. Oh its inauguration day, Joe? Sorry buddy, it’s actually St. Sebastian’s Feast Day, the patron saint of athletes, and its Phils day to shine now.
In all seriousness though, Rivers deserves all the loves he is going to receive today and in the days to come. His career never had a single dull moment. He played full tilt, with a passion for the game that we can only wish for in someone we root for. Rivers embodied a quarterback who you want under center for your team. Sure he was a gunslinger at times and wasn’t able to get that coveted Super Bowl, but Rivers was smart as they come, left it all out the field every single play, would play through countless injuries and was a better human and teammate than he was a football player. It was almost impossible not to love the guy. I believe that’s why so many outside of San Diego, including myself, came to be a fan of Rivers. I can imagine he rubbed some people the wrong way with his outspoken on field attitude, but aside from that, Phil was awesome. A bolo tie wearin, no-swear word sayin, mini van drivin, man of faith who just so happened to love playing quarterback and ended up being one the best we will have ever seen.
Rivers ranks 5th all time in the NFL in pass yards (63,440), completions (5,277) and passing touchdowns (421). No way was Phil going to land on 420 touchdown passes and be associated with jokes about the devils lettuce. Rivers was an 8-time pro bowler and the 2013 comeback player of the year. He made the playoffs 7 times in his career and went as deep as the AFC championship game once. His career aligned with Tom Brady’s playoff dominance as well as Petyon Manning and Ben Roethlisberger so his lack of playoff success isn’t a testament to him in any way, he just was up against some other all time greats.
Philip Rivers’ retirement is going to be the start of a wave of Hall of Fame quarterbacks, who we have become so accustomed to seeing every Sunday, bidding us farewell. Within this offseason alone we may say goodbye to Drew Brees and Ben Roethlisberger with Tom Brady shortly following. There is a great crop of young quarterbacks ready to take the reigns, but this group of all time greats will be missed.
