Justin Herbert walked into Monday Night Football with a broken hand and walked out with a gritty 22-19 win over the Eagles - and a 9-4 record for the Chargers. It wasn’t pretty.
It wasn’t easy. But it was vintage Herbert: tough as nails, calm under pressure, and fully committed to dragging his team across the finish line, pain be damned.
Meanwhile, 2,000 miles away from the action, another Chargers legend is suiting up again - sort of. Philip Rivers, at 44 years old, is officially signing with the Colts’ practice squad.
And no, this isn’t a ceremonial gesture. Indianapolis is in desperation mode, and Rivers might be their best shot at salvaging a season that’s spiraling fast.
So what do Herbert’s gutsy win and Rivers’ surprise return have in common? More than you might think.
The Chargers franchise has gone from one iron man to another. From Rivers, who famously played through a torn ACL in the 2007 AFC Championship Game, to Herbert, who’s now gutting out wins with a busted throwing hand - the throughline is toughness.
Reliability. A quarterback who refuses to quit, no matter the circumstances.
But here’s the twist: Rivers might end up standing between Herbert and the postseason.
The Colts were riding high not long ago, sitting at 8-2 and looking like a real AFC threat. Fast forward a few weeks, and they’re 8-5, have lost their grip on the division to Jacksonville, and just lost starting quarterback Daniel Jones to a torn Achilles. The offense has stalled, the defense is being asked to do too much, and head coach Shane Steichen is turning to a familiar face to right the ship.
Enter Rivers.
Yes, he’s 44. Yes, he hasn’t played an NFL snap since 2020.
But the Colts don’t need vintage Rivers - they just need someone who can steady the offense, keep the chains moving, and let Jonathan Taylor do the heavy lifting. Of course, that’s easier said than done.
If defenses start stacking the box to shut down Taylor, Rivers will need to prove he can still sling it well enough to keep them honest. And that’s where things get dicey.
Indianapolis also happens to own the head-to-head tiebreaker over the Chargers, thanks to a dominant win at SoFi earlier this season. So if the playoff race gets tight - and it will - Rivers could be the one knocking his old team out of the postseason.
Both the Colts and Chargers are staring down brutal closing stretches:
Chargers: Chiefs, Cowboys, Texans, Broncos.
Colts: Seahawks, 49ers, Jaguars, Texans.
There’s no margin for error. Both teams are in the thick of the wild card race, and technically, both still have a shot at their respective divisions - but they’ll need help. What they don’t need is to stumble down the stretch.
For the Chargers, it’s all about Herbert. He’s already proven he can win in a variety of ways.
Let the defense and run game take the lead? No problem.
Need him to be Superman and throw 40 times with a broken hand? He’ll do that too.
The guy just finds a way.
For the Colts, it’s about survival. Can Rivers step in after nearly five years away and give them just enough to stay afloat?
Can Taylor carry the load without defenses keying in on him? Can the defense hold up against a gauntlet of playoff-caliber opponents?
It’s a fascinating subplot: two quarterbacks tied by franchise history, now on a collision course in the AFC playoff race. One is a future Hall of Famer trying to write a Hollywood ending. The other is a current star, still very much in his prime, trying to cement his place among the league’s elite.
Four games left.
Two quarterbacks. One playoff race.
Let’s see who gets it done.