Pharewell

Cry some man tears to the Chargers' Philip Rivers tribute video

January 29, 2021

What you're about to watch is just 80 seconds of content, but it's a great encapsulation of the long, sometimes strange, often brilliant career of one of the best—and most overlooked—quarterbacks of our time. Be warned, though . . . the room might get a little dusty if you're not careful:

Rivers announced his retirement last week, and will hang up his spikes after 17 seaons as the QB with the fifth-most passing yards in NFL history. In a lot of ways, you can compare him to the man who's sixth on that list, Dan Marino. An incredible player, an even better competitor, and also someone who never won a Super Bowl. It's an asterisk that will always accompany his legacy, which is as inevitable as it is unfair (football is, after all, a team game). The lack of a championship probably explains why we don't really talk about him in the same breath as Brady, Brees, Manning, or even Rodgers, but the video the Chargers put out shows exactly what made him so special in his own right. Of course, you don't have to tell anyone in my home state, North Carolina, about him; he led N.C. State to some of the best years they've ever had.

What's next for Rivers? Turns out, he's headed to Fairhope, Ala. to be a high school football coach, and even met briefly with his team this past week. It's never easy to tell who will make a good coach, but you have to think Rivers, with his talent and his obvious intelligence, has a great shot to rise up as far as he wants.