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Philip Rivers announced his retirement from the NFL on Wednesday after coming off the sidelines from coaching high school football to play for the Indianapolis Colts.
Rivers appeared on “Up & Adams” before the end of the year and said he was truly done this time and would turn his focus to the team he coaches.
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Indianapolis Colts quarterback Philip Rivers speaks at a press conference after an NFL football game against the San Francisco 49ers, Monday, Dec. 22, 2025, in Indianapolis. (AP Photo/AJ Mast)
“I’m (done),” Rivers said. “I got a son who’s going to be a senior and I got that St. Michael football team ready to go. We got beat in the semifinals two years in a row,” Rivers said. “So, this will be his senior year. My other son will be in the ninth grade. They will be on the same team together.
“So, it’s going to be fun to get back home with the boys. The school has been really excited. A lot of them came to the game last week. It’s going to be fun. It’s going to kickstart our offseason program, to say the least. Maybe the things I say to them, now that I was just out there playing, they’ll take it a little more seriously.”
Rivers said he knew he was done in 2020 and that returning this season to replace Daniel Jones, who suffered a torn Achilles, to try to lead the Colts to the playoffs was just perfect timing.
He said that if another team would have called, there would have been no chance of him doing what he did.
Indianapolis Colts quarterback Philip Rivers jogs off the field after an NFL football game against the Jacksonville Jaguars, Sunday, Dec. 28, 2025, in Indianapolis. (AP Photo/AJ Mast)
COLTS’ PHILIP RIVERS HOPE EMOTIONAL NFL RETURN PROVIDES INSPIRATION
“Everything just lined up,” he said. “It was a place I had been, a team I was familiar with, the offense was exactly the same. The coach I knew. It was all those things that made it the perfect storm.
“I’m back on the sidelines. This was a fun three-week blur that nobody saw coming, including myself, and that will be it.”
The Colts will go with Riley Leonard for the final game of the season.
Rivers, 44, was a Pro Football Hall of Fame semifinalist before deciding to turn back his retirement clock to join the Colts. Indianapolis couldn’t win with Rivers at the helm.
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He had 544 passing yards, four touchdown passes and three interceptions in those three starts.
Rivers will walk away with 63,984 passing yards, 425 passing touchdowns and an incredible story to tell.
