Philip Rivers sure is having an interesting couple of weeks.
After being pulled out of retirement to quarterback the Colts in a captivating three-game NFL return, the 44-year-old in now interviewing for the Bills’ head coaching vacancy, according to ESPN’s Adam Schefter.
Rivers was coaching St. Michael Catholic High School in Alabama when Indianapolis brought him back after a four-year NFL layoff.
Part of the appeal was that he ran an offense similar to Colts coach Shane Steichen’s.
Earlier this month, NFL Network’s Ian Rapoport reported that Rivers was getting some interest as coaching jobs opened up.
Now a grandfather, Rivers went 0-3 in taking over for Daniel Jones after he went down with a season-ending Achilles injury, throwing for 544 yards with four touchdowns to three interceptions. That leaves his careers marks at 134-109 with 63,984 passings yards (eight-best all-time), 425 TDs (seventh) and 212 interceptions (No. 22 and the NFL’s active leader) after 16 seasons with the Chargers and 19 totals games over two seasons with the Colts.
For his next challenge, Rivers will have to impress the man he could be coaching in Josh Allen, who is reportedly sitting in on all the Bills’ interviews. The pair do have some history, as Rivers lost his final playoff game in 2021 to Allen, marking the Bills QB’s first career postseason win.
Buffalo fired Sean McDermott after Sunday’s Divisional Round loss to the Broncos, moving on after his nine seasons at the helm and a 98-50 regular-season record.
Former Dolphins coach Mike McDaniel is also slated to interview for the Buffalo opening while having a fallback plan as the Chargers’ offensive coordinator. Also in the mix are Former Giants coach Brian Daboll and current Buffalo offensive coordinator Joe Brady.
That Buffalo is considering a candidate like Rivers who has no NFL coaching experience isn’t entirely unheard of. The Colts hired Jeff Saturday as their interim coach in 2022, despite their former center being an ESPN analyst and high school coach in Georgia. In 1961, the Vikings made longtime NFL QB Norm Van Brocklin their head coach, even though he had no other experience, marking the most recent time a franchise went that route for the full-time position.
Actually making the leap to head coach would cap off a truly incredible few weeks for Rivers, who was a semifinalist for the 2026 Pro Football Hall of Fame class before his Colts stint. Now he’ll have to wait until 2031 for another shot at being enshrined.
He might have a way or two to pass the time, at least.
