Philip Rivers says he’s done playing, will return to high school coaching next fall
Rivers plans to return to his high school head coaching duties after a "fun three-week blur" with the Colts.
This time, Philip Rivers is really done for good. The 44-year-old quarterback confirmed in an interview on the “Up & Adams Show” on Wednesday that his playing career would be over after the Indianapolis Colts’ season finale Sunday.
“I am (done),” Rivers said on the show. “I got a son who will be a senior and that St. Michael football team ready to go. We got beat in the semifinals two years in a row.”
Rivers has been the head coach of the St. Michael Catholic High School football team in Fairhope, Ala., since his first retirement after the 2020 season. More than 25 of his players traveled to Sunday’s game against the Jacksonville Jaguars to watch Rivers play. His son Gunner is the quarterback and is entering his senior season next fall.
“My second son will be a ninth grader, so they’ll be on the same team together,” Rivers said. “It’ll be fun to get back. The boys back home at the school have been really excited. A lot of them came to the game last week, made the 11-hour trip up. … It’ll kickstart our offseason program to say the least. Maybe some things I say to them they’ll take a little more seriously now.”
As the Colts dealt with injuries in their quarterback room last month and pursued a playoff spot, coach Shane Steichen turned to Rivers, who came out of retirement after five seasons away from the NFL. Rivers has started the last three games for Indianapolis.
After playing his 17th NFL season with the Colts in 2020, the opportunity to come back to a familiar place was meaningful for Rivers. He said he would have turned down the offer if it had been a different franchise making the call.
“I knew I was done in 2020,” Rivers said. “Everything lined up just right. Had someone, there’s no chance. It was because it’s a place I’ve been, a team I was familiar with, offense was exactly the same, same coach. I knew our football season was over. It was all those things that made it the perfect storm.”
Rivers confirmed that he’ll be back with the St. Michael team next fall.
“I’m back to the sideline,” Rivers said. “This was a fun three-week blur that nobody saw coming, including myself, and that’ll be it.”
Rivers is the Chargers’ all-time leader in passing touchdowns and yards. He also ranks sixth and eighth all-time in passing TDs (425) and passing yards (63,984), respectively, in NFL history. His 14 game-winning drives are tied for the 14th-most all-time. Rivers nearly led the Colts on a game-winning drive in his first game back at Seattle in Week 15, throwing a back-shoulder pass to wide receiver Alec Pierce for a 16-yard gain that helped set up kicker Blake Grupe for a go-ahead, 60-yard field goal, but Indianapolis lost on a 56-yard field goal by Jason Myers in the final seconds.
In his short return stint, Rivers’ best game thus far came against the San Francisco 49ers on Dec. 22. He finished 23-of-35 passing for 277 yards with two touchdowns and an interception. In his other two starts, he threw for a combined 267 yards.