Former NC State and current San Diego Chargers quarterback Philip Rivers is now in his 13th season in the NFL. Throughout Rivers’ career, evidence has been given to support the theory that he may very well be cursed by the football gods.
Rivers spent four years playing quarterback for the Wolfpack from 2000 to 2003. During these seasons, he tallied 1,087 completions, 13,484 yards passing and 95 total touchdowns. These numbers led to him to be a first-round draft pick. It was predicted by many that Rivers would be selected by the Pittsburgh Steelers. Rivers was selected by the Giants with the fourth pick in the draft and minutes later he was traded to the Chargers for Eli Manning who refused to play for San Diego. The draft-night carousel Rivers rode from Pittsburgh, to New York, to San Diego was just the start of his professional career woes.
When looking at Rivers’ numbers alone, his career is solid. He is no doubt a future hall of famer. Before the 2016 season, Rivers had thrown for 41,447 yards, 281 touchdowns and 3,462 completions. His career quarterback rating stood at 95.5 and his completion percentage was at 64.8 (regular season numbers). Such good numbers with such terrible results further supports the theory that Rivers may be cursed.
How is it that a player which such great numbers has only made the playoffs five times? The Chargers have only had six seasons during which they ended above a .500 winning percentage since Rivers became the starting quarterback in 2006.
The first four seasons Rivers started for the Chargers appeared promising. The Chargers finished first in its division all four years, had records of 14-2, 11-5, 8-8 and 13-3 respectively and even made it to the conference championship game in 2007. LaDainian Tomlinson was one of the most feared running backs in the game and River’s connection with tight end Antonio Gates was comparable to Tom Brady’s current chemistry with Rob Gronkowski. From 2006 to 2009, Rivers had his best teams and best chance at a Super Bowl ring. Unfortunately, he didn’t get it done.
Since Tomlinson’s retirement in 2012, everything changed. In those next three years (2013 – 2015) the Chargers have only made the playoff once and the best record has been 9-7. San Diego failed to win the division and even the year that they made the playoffs, they were only third out of four teams.
Recently, it appears injuries have plagued the Chargers team as a whole. This season alone the notable injury list includes Danny Woodhead who tore his ACL, Keenan Allen who tore his ACL and Manti Te’o who tore his Achilles. They are all done for the season.
The Chargers currently sit at 3-4. Although it is not too terrible, the Chargers easily could have a couple more wins if they continue to compete in the fourth quarter. In Week 1 they were beating the Kansas City Chiefs by 21 points with 18 minutes left and they lost in overtime. In Week 4 the Chargers blew a 13-point lead in the fourth quarter to the New Orleans Saints and lost. Lastly, in Week 5, the Chargers lost to the Raiders because of a botched snap for a field goal that would’ve tied the game with two minutes left. Though all of these are examples from 2016, the Chargers have a history of blowing games in the fourth quarter.
Because of the Chargers’ mediocrity and Rivers’ lack of postseason success, he will not be remembered the same way that the other quarters from his draft class will be. An argument could be made that Rivers is individually better than Manning and just as good as Ben Roethlisberger. This argument would then be shattered as someone would mention that Manning has two Super Bowl rings, Roethlisberger has two as well and Rivers hasn’t ever come close to winning one. Cursed.
