Rivers’ brief comeback to end as Colts opt to start Leonard at QB against Houston

Philip Rivers’ brief comeback is over — and apparently so is his career. Again.

The 44-year-old quarterback who came out of retirement to try and lead the Indianapolis Colts back to the playoffs three weeks ago will not start Sunday’s game against the Houston Texans and has likely taken the final snaps of his 18-year NFL career.

Coach Shane Steichen announced Wednesday, as expected, Rivers would be replaced in the starting lineup by rookie Riley Leonard in the Colts’ season finale Sunday at Houston.

Steichen had indicated the move was possible just minutes after Indy (8-8) lost to the Jacksonville Jaguars on Sunday, one day after the Texans beat Rivers’ former team, the Los Angeles Chargers, to eliminate the Colts from the playoff race. And he may have inadvertently dropped a hint of the plan when he referred to Rivers “coming out one last time and fighting like crazy.”

Later Sunday, Rivers acknowledged he understood the circumstances and would support whatever direction the Colts went.

On Monday, when Steichen again was asked about the decision, he said he still planned to meet with Rivers, a longtime friend, Tuesday before making an announcement Wednesday.

Now it’s official.

While Rivers went 0-3 in what he described as “three bonus games” following a five-year layoff, he certainly gave the reeling Colts a chance to win all three.

Rivers helped the Colts take a late lead in Week 15 at Seattle only to watch Indy’s defense give up a late field goal in the final minute. His interception in the waning seconds sealed Indy’s 18-16 loss.

In Week 16, against San Francisco, Rivers helped the Colts score 27 points — but the defense never forced a punt in a 48-27 loss.

And last Sunday, Rivers’ touchdown pass to Mo Alie-Cox gave Indy a 17-14 lead over Jacksonville in the third quarter. The Jaguars, however, scored the final nine points of the game to hand the Colts their sixth straight loss, paving the way for Leonard to make his starting debut in the NFL.

“If this was the last one — shoot again, I told you guys I wouldn’t have any regrets about coming back, and I don’t,” Rivers said Sunday. “Other than us not winning, right — us not winning. It’s been an absolute blast for three weeks. If I’d go back and say, ‘All right, now you know everything that is going to happen. What are you going to do?’ I’d do it all again. It’s been absolutely awesome.”

Rivers was the most recent quarterback to lead the Colts to the playoffs in 2020. Rivers, also the coach at St. Michael Catholic High School in Fairhope, Alabama, will turn the starting job over to Leonard, who played at a different high school in Fairhope.

Indy is about to embark on yet another offseason full of significant questions, starting with either Steichen, general manager Chris Ballard or both could be out after becoming the first team in 30 years to start 8-2 and miss the playoffs.

The quarterback carousel also could be spinning again.

Rivers came out of retirement two days after Daniel Jones suffered a season-ending torn right Achilles tendon that could keep him out at least until the start of training camp, perhaps longer, and one day after Leonard arrived at the team complex with an injured right knee. Jones is set to become a free agent again in March.

Though Anthony Richardson, the No. 4 overall draft pick in 2023, has been practicing each of the past two weeks, he’s still on the injured reserve list because of a fractured orbital bone near his eye — the result of a bizarre pregame injury suffered in the locker room when a stretching band snapped.

Richardson is not expected to be activated Sunday and may not be back with the team after losing his starting job to Jones in training camp and throwing just two passes all season.

“He’s still got the eye limitations, and we just want to be really smart with that to be completely honest,” Steichen said Monday.

The only other quarterback on the roster is Seth Henigan, who was signed to the practice squad Tuesday, which means there’s still a chance Rivers could take a few more snaps.

If he doesn’t take any more snaps, Rivers sounds content to finish his career sixth all time in career TD passes with 425, eighth in yards passing with 63,984 and ninth in career wins with 134.

“Oh yeah, yeah. I’ll be right back on the sideline,” Rivers said when asked if another comeback was out of the question, “which I’m sure many watching probably said that’s probably where you belong.”

___

AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/NFL