So long, Philip Rivers

Tyler Pugmire / Asst. Sports Editor / The USD Vista

As Philip Rivers mutually decided to part ways with the Los Angeles Chargers, San Diegans, and former fans of the San Diego Chargers, have seemingly lost all attachment to the new, young Los Angeles football squad. Philip Rivers was San Diego’s quarterback. Philip Rivers was my quarterback. 

Being a lifelong San Diego Chargers fan, Philip Rivers has been my favorite player since I was six years old. The memories of him in Qualcomm, now SDCCU Stadium, will be with me even when I am an old grandpa telling my grandkids about the players “back in my day.” Rivers was a quarterback who loved the city of San Diego so much that he continued to live down here while the entire organization went up Interstate 5 to Los Angeles. 

Rivers was the final piece of attachment to the Los Angeles Chargers for many of those from San Diego. After years of poor ownership from Dean Spanos, and a lack of ability to put out a consistently competitive football team, there is almost no reason for a San Diegan to remain a Chargers fan. But I digress.

Philip Rivers and Antonio Gates shaped football in San Diego for more than a decade together. Both have decided to stop playing for the now L.A. Chargers this past year. 

Philip consistently won over the hearts of San Diegans while the team’s home site was just down the street in Mission Valley. I can still remember the game he played with a torn ACL, the 228 straight starts without ever missing a game, the deep playoff run in 2006, the Rivers-to-Gates connection. The story of the San Diego Chargers cannot be told without detailing the career of future hall-of-famer Philip Rivers. 

For San Diegans, a major reason that Philip Rivers won over this city was his ability to silence the Raiders fans that came down when Oakland visited the Chargers, especially in December. Philip Rivers was an absolute spectacle to watch in the final month of the year, carrying the Chargers to a 39-19 record in December games from 2006 to 2018, and having multiple comeback victories against the Raiders in the meantime. 

For the Chargers and Rivers to break up, it makes some sense. The quarterback is getting old and Los Angeles has a young football team. They now have multiple options: either draft a young QB like Justin Herbert or potentially get a big-name signing in Tom Brady (and win over some bandwagoners from Orange County). Rivers will explore other destinations, namely the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, the soon-to-be Las Vegas Raiders, or the Indianapolis Colts. The name sticking out among those three is most definitely the archrival Raiders. 

Philip Rivers won over the hearts of San Diegans, while Dean Spanos took our hearts and sold them to the National Football League for a new stadium in a bigger city. The Chargers leaving San Diego took a toll on this city, leaving us with one major sports team, a professional rugby team, and minor-league teams such as the Gulls, Seals, and now San Diego Loyal SC. For San Diegans, sports are not what define our city, but we held our own for the Chargers. We showed up to the big games, and I will never forget the roaring chants of the prolonged “Sannnn Diegoooooo Super Chargers!” that were electric and fired up both the crowds and the players. 

For me, it seems as though San Diego’s connection to sports falters more and more every day, and it is almost all due to the Chargers ditching us for Los Angeles. San Diego once was a place full of superstars with names like Philip Rivers, Antonio Gates, Ladanian Tomlinson, and even Trevor Hoffman on the Padres. 

Philip Rivers was San Diego’s star. Philip Rivers was my star. His departure from the Chargers will weigh heavily on my heart for the remainder of the season and/or his career. From the dad-gummits to the trash talk to the post-game interviews, Philip Rivers was always a San Diegan at heart. He cared about our city, and now that he has departed from the Chargers, there is almost no connection between the Chargers and San Diego except a distant history, a statement that would have been labeled as blasphemy just six short years ago. 

The future hall of famer represented everything that San Diego is: eccentric, hard working, and never breaking. San Diego is so lucky to have experienced the incredible career that Philip gave to this city. The Chargers will not be the same without Sir Philip of House Rivers, and hopefully, San Diegans will remain with him at the very least throughout the rest of his career. Let us just hope he is not on the Raiders.