Philip Rivers says he’s done with football after remarkable run with Colts: ‘I’m back on the bench’

Philip Rivers finished this time. He swears.

After a three-game comeback that exceeded all reasonable expectations, the 44-year-old quarterback said Wednesday there won’t be another. He finished playing NFL football.

Rivers made an appearance on “Up & Adams” and host Kay Adams asked him if he was done playing in the NFL.

“I am,” Rivers said.

As Adams urged him to reconsider, Rivers continued by talking about his family and his job coaching a high school football team in Alabama. Adams astutely pointed out that he had already declared his retirement once when he first left football in 2021, only to return almost five years later.

Rivers responded that “everything worked out” for him to return to an Indianapolis Colts franchise he had previously played for and that he would not be interested in playing for a new team. Even a hypothetical opportunity with a Rams team in contention in the event of Matthew Stafford’s retirement could not influence him.

“I’m back on the bench,” Rivers said. “It was a fun three-week blur that no one saw coming, including me. And that will be it.”

Rivers’ return to the NFL in 2026 was never really in the cards. Again, he is 44 years old. But his performance in three games made the prospect a little less absurd.

With just a few days’ notice, Rivers joined the Colts from his job as a father and high school football coach, took over the offense and started in an NFL game, the first of three.

The Colts lost all three of their starts, but he kept them competitive in playoff games against the Seahawks, 49ers and Jaguars, each of whom enter Week 18 with a chance to clinch the top playoff spot. His arm wasn’t what it used to be, but he performed like a competent NFL starting quarterback.

In doing so, Rivers became one of the stories of the NFL season while garnering almost universal admiration for his play and approach to the game.

It makes for a remarkable coda to a career that everyone, including Rivers, thought was long over. And it’s a good way for Rivers to go out on his own terms.