Philip Rivers Adds to Legacy by Carrying Chargers to Season-Saving Victory

At one point Saturday night, the San Diego Chargers’ season was scattered in pieces across the shoddy grass of Levi’s Stadium because quarterback Philip Rivers had thrown three ugly interceptions and the defense couldn’t stop the run. The 49ers were up by 21 points on two occasions and the Chargers were lifeless and injured.

Rivers refused to let the Chargers’ playoff hopes die with plenty of time to mount a comeback. By putting the team on his ailing back and willing them to the improbable 38-35 overtime victory, he added to his legacy by giving the Chargers yet another shot at the postseason.

It wasn’t pretty, but neither is Rivers’ throwing motion. In fact, it was an ugly game until he hit Malcom Floyd to tie the game at 35 and get to overtime. It didn’t get better for the Chargers until Nick Novak’s 40-yard game-winning field goal sailed through the uprights.

Split	Wins	Losses	YPG	YPA	TD%	INT%
Home	16	6	220.9	7.7	5.9%	2.2%
Road	15	2	243.5	7.3	6.2%	2.0%
Decemer Total	31	8	227.4	7.6	6.0%	1.9%
Career (All Months)	88	55	246.6	7.8	5.4%	2.5%

With the win, Rivers is now 15-2 on the road in December and 31-8 overall. If that’s not clutch, there is no such thing.

If throwing for 356 yards on 54 attempts with four touchdown passes to win after being down by 21, on the road, against a top pass defense and with a bad back isn’t clutch, there is no such thing. If converting three fourth downs—including two on the game-tying drive with under two minutes left—isn’t clutch, there is no such thing.

Sure, if Rivers loses the fumble on the game-tying drive, it changes the narrative, but that’s football. Sure, if he doesn’t throw two of his interceptions, his team isn’t down by 21 points, but that’s part of it too. There are good breaks and bad breaks; it’s up to the players to make the most of their opportunities. Rivers is one of the few quarterbacks in the league with the mental toughness to overcome mistakes and capitalize on the chances he gets. 

“We said, ‘We don’t know if we were going to win the game or not, but we’re going to fight like crazy to see what happens,'" Rivers said after the game via Kevin Acee of U-T San Diego. "That’s who we are.”

After four straight three-and-outs combined by the Chargers and 49ers at the start of the third quarter, time was running out for San Diego to turn things around. Rivers then led a nine-play drive and capped it with a touchdown pass to tight end Antonio Gates to cut the 49ers’ lead to 14. Rivers threw the ball seven times on the drive with big completions to both Floyd and Eddie Royal.

The defense tried to help, but merely ended up treading water. A sack-fumble by quarterback Colin Kaepernick resulted in a touchdown for the Chargers, but when Kaepernick got the ball back, he scampered 90 yards to erase the score with one of his own. Rivers and the Chargers were still down 14, but the two big plays also meant only a few minutes had ticked off the clock.

Rivers threw his third interception of the game after that, but with an assist by the defense, he got the ball back with nine minutes left and took the Chargers 85 yards for the score. Lesser quarterbacks would have crumbled after an interception like that, but he never did.

Lesser teams may have crumbled in that situation, but not the Chargers. They knew that Rivers was going to fight to the end, so they did too. 

Without the services of his No. 1 wide receiver, Rivers had no choice but to target first-year wide receiver Dontrelle Inman, and the two connected four times on the nine-play, nine-pass touchdown drive. Rivers capped the drive with another touchdown to Gates to pull within a single touchdown.

Game on.

After shoddy kick coverage on special teams, the Chargers defense got another stop. As with any comeback of this magnitude, both sides of the ball deserve plenty of credit, but Rivers still had to take the offense 80 yards in three-and-a-half minutes to tie the game.

Fourteen plays later, the Chargers tied the game on an 11-yard pass from Rivers to Floyd. It was going good until Rivers scrambled left and fumbled, but this was his day. The football gods were smiling upon him and the Chargers recovered.

Rivers shrugged off the fumble and converted on a 4th-and-8 pass to Eddie Royal with the season on the line. Rivers fired the ball just past the outstretched arms of the defender and Royal made a great catch. Then there was a 4th-and-10 conversion to Inman and another sack before Rivers found Floyd on the post for the score.

"

Philip Rivers celebration dot GIF. #chargers win! https://t.co/tretTxzma6

— Brady Phelps (@LobShots) December 21, 2014"

Coming into the game with a bad back, the 49ers bounced Rivers around in the pocket, hit him, sacked him and intercepted him, but his will would not be broken. He still figured out a way to tie the game when he got the opportunity.

Rivers had 18 more passing yards in him in overtime after safety Eric Weddle forced a fumble that probably saved the season. Despite kicking the field goal from 40 yards out on second down with a timeout left in overtime, the Chargers emerged victorious.

While there were many contributors in the win, they couldn’t have done it without Rivers. There is little doubt it will go down as one of the classic wins of Rivers’ career.

With a little luck, it also might help the Chargers make the playoffs. If the Houston Texans beat the Baltimore Ravens Sunday, the Chargers would control their own destiny next week against the Kansas City Chiefs. The Chiefs and Denver Broncos can also help the Chargers control their destiny by beating the Pittsburgh Steelers and Cincinnati Bengals, respectively.

The worst-case scenario is if the Ravens, Steelers and Bengals all win, but even that wouldn't sink the Chargers completely. According to The New York Times, the Chargers have an 87 percent chance to make the playoffs if they beat the Chiefs next week.

That's pretty good odds for team that was down 21 in an a game they had to win to have any chance at all. With a quarterback like Rivers, you can never really count the Chargers out in any game. It's that quality that makes them a dangerous opponent in the postseason—as the Bengals found out last season.