Philip Rivers Retires: Does The Quarterback Deserve Induction Into The Hall Of Fame?

Philip Rivers is finally calling it a career.

After 17 years and a whole lot of trash talk — without cussing, of course — the quarterback is finally hanging up his cleats so he can pursue his dream of coaching high school football, as Rivers announced to the San Diego Union-Tribune on Tuesday night.

“It’s just time,” Rivers told the Union-Tribune late Tuesday night from his home in Indianapolis, where earlier this month he completed his only season with the Colts. “It’s just right.”

We all know Rivers had a stellar career. The man started for 14 consecutive seasons with the Los Angeles Chargers franchise and led annual playoff teams there early on in his career.

When everyone thought Rivers might be too old to do any damage with the Indianapolis Colts in his final season, what did the 39-year-old quarterback do? He led a resurgent Colts squad to an 11-5 record and was a Hail Mary completion away from upsetting one of the top teams in the AFC, the Buffalo Bills, in the Wild Card round.

And while plenty of Rivers’ former rivals — including fellow 2004 draftee Eli Manning — respect the heck out of him, the question that popped into everyone’s heads upon his announcement was this:

Is Rivers heading to the Pro Football Hall of Fame?

We all know Rivers’ overall statistics are gaudy. We’re also well aware that he was remarkably consistent over the duration of his 15 years as a starting quarterback in the NFL.

But he never won a Super Bowl.

And as unfair as it may be, star players — especially quarterbacks — are judged based upon their championship hardware.

It’s the reason why Tom Brady will go down as the G.O.A.T., while legends such as Dan Marino are unfairly forgotten about — especially as time moves forward, and the newer generations have no recollection of just how great past legends really were.

Let’s examine the argument for why Rivers deserves to be in the Pro Football Hall of Fame — while also looking at the reasons why he should not be inducted into Canton.

Why Rivers Deserves A Bust In Canton

The argument for Rivers being enshrined is real simple — it’s his statistics and his longevity.

When you look at the all-time numbers, the former No. 4 overall draft pick ranks as follows: fifth in passing touchdowns, fifth in passing yards, fifth in completions and 12th in career passer rating.

That’s not to mention that he ends his career having started 240 consecutive games. That’s right, Rivers has not missed a single start since he officially became the Chargers’ starting quarterback in Week 1 of the 2006 season.

That is the second-best mark of all time for a quarterback, ranking behind only the greatest iron man of them all, Brett Favre (297 starts).

But while Favre holds the record, he didn’t end his starting career without missing a start — in fact, he missed the last two starts of the 2010 season due to a concussion.

In the case of Rivers, he never missed a start as a starting quarterback. Not even when he played with a torn ACL during the 2007 AFC Championship Game — basically unheard of.

And as far as longevity is concerned, understand that among starting quarterbacks that concluded the 2020 regular season, only four were starters when Rivers made his first start in Week 1 of 2006 — Tom Brady, Ben Roethlisberger, Drew Brees and Alex Smith.

In the case of Brady, he missed the entire 2008 season due to his own torn ACL injury. As far as Roethlisberger is concerned, he’s been dinged up all throughout his career, missing 34 possible starts since 2006. Brees has been rather durable, but has missed nine starts alone over the past two seasons due to nagging injuries.

Smith made a remarkable return from a career-threatening leg injury this past season, but he’s been in and out as a starting quarterback over the past 15 years.

To top things off, Rivers has done it all — he’s led the league in touchdowns, passing yards, completion percentage and passer rating. He’s even been named a Comeback Player of the Year and has eight Pro Bowl appearances to his name — with the first coming in 2006 and the last coming in 2018.

That is the definition of longevity.

Let’s also factor in that fellow quarterbacks who did not win the big game — Marino, Jim Kelly, Dan Fouts and Warren Moon, to name a few — are proudly enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

So why not Rivers?

Why Rivers Does Not Deserve A Bust In Canton

We all know the main argument for Rivers being left out of the Pro Football Hall of Fame. That’s none other than the fact that he doesn’t have a ring.

But it’s not just that — it’s the fact that he never came close to winning the big one.

While guys like Marino and Kelly made Super Bowl appearances, Rivers never came close to sniffing one — especially as his career progressed.

The trash-talking, competitive Rivers made one championship game appearance — in his second season starting — and never advanced past the divisional round ever again. In other words, Rivers advanced past the divisional round just once in his career.

His playoff record and statistics are as follows: 5-7 record, 59.4% completion rate, 16 touchdowns, 10 interceptions and a 85.3 quarterback rating with one fourth quarter comeback and one game-winning drive.

In other words, he’s no Brady. In fact, he went 0-7 during his career against No. 12 — including 0-3 in the postseason.

So not only does Rivers not have the championship hardware, he doesn’t have any real single defining postseason moment. And it doesn’t help that he could never beat the best of his generation a single time.

Furthermore, there was never a single season in which Rivers separated himself as the best quarterback in the NFL. He doesn’t have a single All-Pro season and while he did peak really high in the 2008-to-2010 period — he led the league in passer rating, yards per attempt and yards per completion in that span — no one would argue that he was better than Brady and Peyton Manning during any given time frame.

The Final Verdict

As a sports-viewing audience in the United States, we love winners. From the days of Joe Namath and Terry Bradshaw to the days of Joe Montana and Troy Aikman, and now finally to the current era of Brady, we’ve always idolized winners.

Although Rivers came up short — drastically short in the postseason compared to his peers — you can’t ignore the consistency, the longevity and a stat that trumps every quarterback in the history of the game except for one — the 240 consecutive starts.

And again, unlike Favre, Rivers ends his career never having missed a start due to injury. You can’t say that about any other quarterback in the history of the NFL who started for 15 years. The guy played in the midst of an ACL injury just days after surgery for the 2007 AFC Championship Game.

Is it true that Rivers played in an era that puffs up his numbers?

Sure. So did Brady and Brees. And so does the guy that everyone loves — and will love — for the next 10-to-15 years in Patrick Mahomes.

And no one holds that against them.

And just because he wasn’t a winner on the grandest stage, it doesn’t disqualify Rivers from the Hall of Fame.

Moon never advanced past the divisional round of the playoffs.

Fouts never advanced past the conference championship.

Both are in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

We’ve become spoiled as a society when it comes to great individual players who dominate when it comes to winning titles.

Over the past 30-to-35 years, we’ve witnessed Montana, Wayne Gretzky, Michael Jordan, LeBron James and Brady dominate by racking up title after title.

But that isn’t the only measure of success when it comes to Hall-of-Fame-worthy players.

While he may not be a first-ballot Hall-of-Fame player, Rivers deserves to get in — and he will be inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame when it’s all said and done.