Philip Rivers’ comeback has been one of the unlikeliest NFL developments in recent memory and the Colts quarterback had another strong performance against the 49ers on Monday night.
After nearly leading the Colts to a win in Seattle in Week 15, Rivers was 23-of-35 for 277 yards, two touchdowns and an interception in Indianapolis on Monday. The interception came on his final pass of the night and Dee Winters returned it for a touchdown that sealed the 49ers’ 48-27 win.
The loss didn’t eliminate the Colts from the playoff race, but they are hanging on for dear life and Rivers said it’s hard to focus on how much fun he’s having given the realities of the team’s situation.
“I’m torn on how to express it, because it’s been a blast,” Rivers said, via Stephen Holder of ESPN.com. “It’s been a blast to prepare and to go stinking get ready and go out there and warm up and do all that with these guys again. But, again, the name of the game is not go have a good time. It’s help find a way to lead your team to a win. And we’ve come up short.”
The Colts were sliding out of playoff position before Daniel Jones’ season-ending Achilles injury and the Rivers idea was a moonshot to try to reverse that trend. It hasn’t worked, but Rivers hasn’t been the reason why and the lasting memories of the Colts season will be a little sunnier because Rivers agreed to give it a shot.
