The recent Philip Rivers unretirement may have been the beginning, not the end.
Ian Rapoport of NFL Media reports that “teams have been doing research” on the soon-to-be-former-for-the-second-time Colts quarterback as a head-coaching candidate. In the current cycle.
Rivers could get, per the report, one or more interviews.
Rapoport adds that it’s not the first time teams have kicked the tires on Rivers. Previously, he had not been willing to engage.
There’s no reason to think he will now. Rivers has said he’ll coach his son’s football team in 2026. And his son is going to be a senior.
It puts Rivers in a similar posture to former NFL tight end Jason Witten. Some throughout the league believe Witten is destined to eventually become a head coach — possibly with the Cowboys. For now, though, he’s coaching his son in high school.
Rivers could eventually make a Jeff Saturday-style leap to NFL head coaching with no coaching experience at the college or pro level. For Rivers, his 17 years (plus three games) of playing experience at the game’s most important position gives him a built-in advantage.
Few former high-level starting quarterbacks become NFL head coaches. Chargers coach Jim Harbaugh, who had 140 NFL starts at quarterback and is in the Colts’ Ring of Honor, is an exception. (Better known as a coach at this point, Harbaugh was a Pro Bowler and got a pair of MVP votes in 1995.) Harbaugh worked his way up as a coach, however, from Raiders quarterbacks coach to head coach at the University of San Diego to head coach at Stanford before becoming head coach of the 49ers a decade after playing in his last NFL game.
Five of 26 Hall of Fame quarterbacks became head coaches: Sammy Baugh, Bob Waterfield, Norm Van Brocklin, Otto Graham, and Bart Starr. None finished their coaching careers above .500.
No franchise quarterbacks in the post-merger era of pro football have become NFL head coaches. Most simply don’t need the money, which likely makes them unwilling to embrace the grind of working for not much pay (relative to their career earnings) through the various layers and levels of the profession before emerging with the top job.
John Elway, of course, became the G.M. of the Broncos. But he never worked as a scout, hopscotching the country and grinding prospect tape in anonymity before positioning himself to get one of the top jobs.
Rivers has made more than $244 million as a quarterback. Would he take a quarterbacks coach assignment, with the goal of becoming an offensive coordinator and then, when the planets align, a head coach? Or would he be far more interested, if at all, in becoming a head coach or nothing at all?
Josh McCown, who was a finalist for the Texans’ head-coaching job in 2022 after a 16-year playing career with 76 starts, is in his third year as a quarterbacks coach — one with Carolina, two with Minnesota.
Jim Zorn, with 106 career starts, became an assistant coach in the late 1980s and eventually coached Washington for two seasons. (Zorn got three MVP votes in 1978.)
Rivers would be the rare exception, as it relates to true franchise quarterbacks who made many millions on the field, to enter the NFL coaching profession. And, like Elway, Rivers may be able to bypass the preliminary jobs and go straight to running the show.
For now, Rivers is reportedly on the radar screen.
Chargers Clips
It’s the final day of the regular season, and the playoff field is almost set, as 12 teams have clinched playoff berths and the Seahawks have clinched the top seed in the NFC. But much else remains in flux. Here’s a list of the teams remaining in contention for each playoff seed, and how they can earn those seeds.
NFC
1. Seahawks. The Seahawks get the No. 1 seed, a first-round by and home-field advantage throughout the NFC playoffs after beating the 49ers on Saturday night.
2. Bears or Eagles. If the Bears win or the Eagles lose, the Bears are the No. 2 seed. If the Bears lose and the Eagles win, the Eagles are the No. 2 seed.
3. Eagles or Bears. The team that doesn’t get the No. 2 seed gets the No. 3 seed. The Eagles are resting their starters and effectively conceding the No. 2 seed to the Bears and preparing to be the No. 3 seed.
4. Panthers or Buccaneers. If the Falcons win today, the Panthers win are the No. 4 seed. If the Falcons lose or tie today, the Buccaneers are the No. 4 seed.
5. 49ers or Rams. If the Rams lose or tie today, the 49ers are the No. 5 seed. If the Rams win today, the Rams are the No. 5 seed.
6. Rams or 49ers. If the Rams lose or tie today, the Rams are the No. 6 seed. If the Rams win, the 49ers are the No. 6 seed.
7. Packers. The Packers are the No. 7 seed in the NFC and will open the playoffs on the road against the No. 2 seed, regardless of anything that happens in Week 18.
AFC
1. Broncos or Patriots or Jaguars. If the Broncos win or the Patriots and Jaguars both lose, the Broncos are the No. 1 seed.
If the Patriots win and the Broncos lose, the Patriots are the No. 1 seed.
If the Jaguars win and the Broncos and Patriots both lose, the Jaguars are the No. 1 seed.
2. Patriots or Broncos or Jaguars. If the Patriots and Broncos both win, the Patriots are the No. 2 seed. If the Patriots and Jaguars both lose, the Patriots are the No. 2 seed. If the Broncos win and the Jaguars lose, the Patriots are the No. 2 seed regardless of what the Patriots do.
If the Broncos lose, the Patriots win and the Jaguars lose, the Broncos are the No. 2 seed. If the Broncos lose, the Patriots lose and the Jaguars win, the Broncos are the No. 2 seed.
If the Jaguars win, the Broncos lose and the Patriots win, the Jaguars are the No. 2 seed. If the Jaguars win, the Broncos win and the Patriots lose, the Jaguars are the No. 2 seed.
3. Jaguars or Broncos or Patriots or Texans. If the Jaguars, Broncos and Patriots all win, or the Jaguars tie, thie Jaguars are the No. 3 seed. If the Jaguars and Texans both lose, the Jaguars are the No. 3 seed. If the Broncos win, the Patriots win and the Texans lose, the Jaguars are the No. 3 seed regardless of what the Jaguars do.
If the Broncos lose and Patriots and Jaguars both win, the Broncos are the No. 3 seed.
If the Patriots lose and the Jaguars win, the Patriots are the No. 3 seed.
If the Texans win and the Jaguars lose, the Texans are the No. 3 seed.
4. Steelers or Ravens. If the Steelers beat or tie the Ravens on Sunday Night Football, the Steelers are the No. 4 seed. If the Ravens win, the Ravens are the No. 4 seed.
5. Texans or Jaguars or Chargers or Bills. If the Texans and Jaguars both win, the Texans are the No. 5 seed. If the Texans, Chargers and Bills all lose, the Texans are the No. 5 seed. If the Jaguars win and the Chargers and Bills lose, the Texans are the No. 5 seed regardless of what the Texans do.
If the Jaguars lose, the Texans win and the Bills lose, the Jaguars are the No. 5 seed. (There are also scenarios that see the Jaguars as the 5 seed based on the strength of victory tiebreaker with the Chargers.)
If the Chargers win and the Texans lose, the Chargers are the No. 5 seed. If the Chargers win and the Jaguars lose, the Chargers could also get the No. 5 seed based on clinching the strength of victory tiebreaker over the Jaguars.
If the Bills win, the Chargers lose and either the Texans or Jaguars lose, the Bills are the No. 5 seed.
6. Chargers or Jaguars or Texans or Bills. If the Chargers, Texans and Jaguars all win, the Chargers are the No. 6 seed. If the Chargers and Bills both lose, the Chargers are the No. 6 seed. If the Texans win and the Bills lose, the Chargers are the No. 6 seed regardless of what the Chargers do.
If the Jaguars and Chargers both lose, and the Texans and Bills both win, the Jaguars are the No. 6 seed.
If the Texans lose and either the Bills lose and Chargers win, or the Bills win and Chargers lose, the Texans are the No. 6 seed.
If the Bills win, the Chargers lose and the Texans and Jaguars both win, the Bills are the No. 6 seed. If the Bills win, the Chargers win and the Texans lose, the Bills are the No. 6 seed.
7. Bills or Jaguars or Texans or Chargers. If the Bills lose, the Bills are the No. 7 seed. If the Chargers, Texans and Jaguars all win, the Bills are the No. 7 seed regardless of what the Bills do.
If the Jaguars lose and the Texans, Chargers and Bills all win, the Jaguars can be the No. 7 seed if the Chargers clinch the strength of victory tiebreaker over the Jaguars.
If the Texans lose and the Chargers and Bills both win, the Texans are the No. 7 seed.
If the Chargers lose and the Bills win, the Chargers are the No. 7 seed.
The Broncos will have wide receiver Pat Bryant (concussion) and tight end Nate Adkins (knee) for Sunday’s game against the Chargers.
Both players remained full participants in Friday’s practice, and neither has an injury designation.
Adkins and Bryant were injured in Week 16 and did not play in the team’s Christmas Day win over the Chiefs.
The Broncos ruled out linebacker Karene Reid (hamstring) and linebacker Dre Greenlaw (hamstring). Reid had a week of full practices during his 21-day return-to-practice window.
Defensive lineman John Franklin-Myers (hip) is questionable after three limited practices.
The Chargers ruled quarterback Justin Herbert out for Week 18 early in the week and they did the same with running back Omarion Hampton on Friday.
Hampton will not play against the Broncos after sitting out of practice all week with an ankle injury. Hampton will turn his attention toward getting healthy in time for the team’s playoff opener during the wild card round.
Running backs Kimani Vidal (neck) and Hassan Haskins (concussion) are listed as questionable, so Jaret Patterson may be in line for plenty of playing time on Sunday.
Center Bradley Bozeman (neck), safety RJ Mickens (shoulder), and cornerback Benjamin St-Juste (shoulder) are also listed as questionable. Left tackle Jemaree Salyer (hamstring) and defensive back Elijah Molden (hamstring) are listed as doubtful while cornerback Nikko Reed (hamstring) has already been ruled out.
Chargers quarterback Justin Herbert will not play in Sunday’s regular-season finale against the Broncos.
The Chargers have already clinched a wild card, and head coach Jim Harbaugh said today that he’s keeping Herbert healthy for the playoffs. Herbert is playing with an injured left hand and has taken a beating this season.
Trey Lance will start at quarterback for the Chargers.
Harbaugh also indicated some other starters who are banged up will get this week off.
That’s good news for the Broncos, who only need to beat the Chargers on Sunday to earn the No. 1 seed in the AFC. It’s also bad news for the Patriots, who can still earn the No. 1 seed, but only if they win on Sunday and the Broncos lose.
The Chargers will open the playoffs on the road in the wild card round, and Harbaugh wants Herbert to be healthy and well rested. If that means accepting that the Chargers are going to lose to the Broncos on Sunday, Harbaugh will take that.
A potentially exciting ending to Saturday’s Texans-Chargers contest evaporated in a flash, thanks to a ticky-tack illegal contact foul that extended Houston’s final drive, keeping L.A. from trying to mount a potential game-winning drive. NFL officiating spokesman Walt Anderson addressed the call on NFL Network’s Sunday morning four-hour pregame show, in his usual two-minute chunk of real estate to talk about officiating decisions from the week that was.
“What a lot of people may not realize is illegal contact is a very unique foul to the National Football League,” Anderson said. “Illegal contact does not exist at any other level of football. And what that foul is, is receivers, once you go five yards, defensive players have got to let them freely run their route. You can chuck them once within five yards, but after five yards, you’ve gotta let them go. And so what happened on this play is when Christian Kirk got past five yards, then, number 29, Tarheeb Still, he slid over into his path. If you slide over into the path of the receiver, you chuck them, you ride them beyond that five yards, that is illegal contact, and that is what was called on the play.”
In isolation, that’s right. And Steve Mariucci followed up with the (frankly) irrelevant question of why the flag wasn’t dropped for illegal contact with a different receiver on the same play. Anderson explained the reason for a foul not being called on Chargers defensive back Donte Jackson (as Kurt Warner initially assumed when discussing the replay during the broadcast) for a collision with Texans receiver Xavier Hutchinson.
Here’s the reality. The officials typically don’t call illegal contact quite so tightly. So the better question is this: “Walt, why isn’t illegal contact called every time it happens?”
Despite the rule that revolutionized passing offenses in 1978 by preventing defensive backs from constantly jamming and hitting and disrupting pass routes before the ball is in the air (with the exception on “one chuck” within five years), some degree of technically illegal contact occurs all the time. It doesn’t get called all the time because, frankly, that would slow the game down to a crawl. (The Legion of Boom, among other successful teams, parlayed that reality into a Super Bowl win 12 years ago.)
That’s the real problem. By “letting them play” more often than not, with illegal contact called only sporadically or when blatant, it stands out (in a bad way) when the rule is strictly enforced — especially when a game is on the line.
This is another one of those “normal incidents of the game” that become tinfoil-hat fodder in a world of widespread legalized sports betting from which the NFL significantly profits.
Obviously, we don’t expect official NFL spokesman Walt Anderson to say that. But that’s the real problem with what happened on Saturday at SoFi Stadium. Illegal contact of the kind that was flagged in crunch time very often isn’t. So why was it called at that specific time?
Houston’s win over the Chargers got the Texans into the playoffs. And it leaves only one spot in the AFC unclaimed.
Six teams are now in: Broncos, Patriots, Jaguars, Texans, Chargers, and Bills.
That leaves one more seat at the table, for one of two teams. Either the Steelers or the Ravens will be the AFC North champions. Pittsburgh’s magic number is one; a Baltimore loss to the Packers tonight or a Steelers win over the Browns on Sunday seals the deal.
Plenty of seed remain TBD, including the AFC East and AFC South champions, along with the all-important No. 1 seed.
Still, six of seven AFC teams are set. Which is the same situation as the NFC, where the only remaining spot will go to eventual NFC South champs, Carolina or Tampa Bay.
The Texans are headed to the playoffs for the third straight season.
Saturday’s 20-16 win over the Chargers in Los Angeles sewed up a postseason berth for DeMeco Ryans’ squad and it closed the door on any hope the Colts had of salvaging a season that has gone off the rails after a 7-1 start. The Texans will face those Colts in Week 18 and the win means there will remain a possibility that they can leapfrog the Jaguars and win the AFC South regardless of what happens in Sunday’s game between their AFC South rivals.
The Chargers loss also means that the Broncos have clinched the AFC West title. It is the first time that a team other than the Chiefs has won that division since 2015.
The Texans got off to a hot start thanks to C.J. Stroud touchdown passes to rookies Jayden Higgins and Jaylin Noel on their first two possessions, but they failed to put the game away despite a slew of Chargers mistakes. Kicker Cameron Dicker had a pair of them with a missed field goal at the end of the first half and a missed extra point after Omarion Hampton’s touchdown run brought Los Angeles within four points with 3:37 left to play in the game.
It looked like the Chargers would get one last chance to try to pull out the win when Odafe Oweh and Daiyan Henley sacked Stroud on a third down before the two minute warning, but cornerback Tarheeb Still was flagged for illegal contact and the Texans were able to run out the clock from there.
Stroud was 16-of-28 for 244 yards and threw two interceptions to go with the two early touchdowns. Running back Woody Marks added 19 carries for 71 yards, but the driver for the Texans all season has been the defense and it remained so on Saturday.
Justin Herbert was sacked five times and the Chargers failed to get into the end zone until they were down 17-3 at the end of the third quarter. Pass protection has been their Achilles heel all season and their playoff stay is unlikely to be a long one if they can’t find some way to shore it up before the wild card round arrives.
The Chargers spent most of the three quarters stumbling around the field, but the Texans couldn’t pull away and it is now a one-score game in Los Angeles.
Quarterback Justin Herbert found tight end Oronde Gadsden for a one-yard touchdown that cut Houston’s lead to 17-10 with 13 seconds left to play in the third quarter.
Herbert helped set up the score with a 28-yard scramble on a third down and picked up another first down when he stayed on his feet to deliver a pass to Quentin Johnston while being hit by Texans defensive tackle Sheldon Rankins. Herbert, who has been sacked five times, is now 15-of-22 for 160 yards on the afternoon.
The Texans raced out to a 14-0 lead after their first two possessions, but the last eight have produced just three more and they will need to find a way to get things back into gear if they’re going to ensure themselves of a playoff berth by the end of business in Week 17.
The Chargers had a couple of chances to cut into the Texans’ lead before halftime in Los Angeles on Saturday, but they couldn’t make anything of them.
Cameron Dicker missed a 32-yard field goal wide right with 10 seconds to play in the half and the Texans remain up 14-3 with 30 minutes left to play as a result. Dicker’s field goal attempt came after the Chargers took over on the Houston 32-yard line thanks to C.J. Stroud’s second interception of the first half.
The miss was the first of Dicker’s career on a kick inside of 40 yards.
Stroud apparently didn’t see Chargers defensive back Elijah Molden standing between him and wide receiver Christian Kirk and the play gave the Chargers some life after they threw an interception of their own. A Justin Herbert toss to tight end Oronde Gadsden went off the rookie’s hands and into the waiting mitts of Texans linebacker Azeez Al-Shaair on the Houston 1-yard line.
Stroud’s first interception came after Chargers defensive lineman Da’Shawn Hand deflected a pass at the line of scrimmage and safety Derwin James reeled it in for the takeaway. That led to the only Chargers points of the first half, but Dicker’s field goal didn’t do much to dent the lead that the Texans built with long touchdown passes on their first two possessions of the game.
Stroud opened the game 6-of-6 for 151 yards, but finished the half 10-of-18 for 185 yards. Herbert is 10-of-14 for 123 yards and he’s been sacked three times.
