The Buffalo Bills seem intent on remaining relevant to NFL headline writers despite being eliminated from the playoffs in the first round. With their latest salvo, the perennial bridesmaids have dragged the Indianapolis Colts into the spotlight, albeit in a minor way.
First, owner Terry Pegula fired head coach Sean McDermott after the Bills’ playoff exit, despite McDermott having the 10th-best career winning percentage of all NFL coaches with at least 100 games.
Then, Buffalo’s owner presided over a train wreck of a press conference in which he attempted to explain his thinking. Pegula was universally mocked, but at least everyone in the NFL was still talking about his team.
Recent Philip Rivers shocker may involve the Indianapolis Colts in a much bigger way
On Friday, he upped the publicity game another notch. News broke that the Bills would be interviewing Philip Rivers for the vacant head coaching spot. As all Colts’ fans know, Rivers’ last stop was in Indianapolis, returning at age 44 to try and salvage the 2025 season. He did not succeed, but his story made for great conversation.
It’s impossible to predict what Terry Pegula might do up in Buffalo, but I think it’s highly unlikely that Philip Rivers becomes the Bills’ next head coach. However, this latest development may actually mean something to the Indianapolis Colts.
When he retired for the first time, Philip Rivers began coaching at St. Michael Catholic, a private high school in Fairhope, Alabama. He has done very well, going 25-3 over his last two years and advancing to the Alabama state playoffs in both years.
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Beyond that, Philip Rivers had never given any strong indication he had his sights set on anything bigger. But he never exactly ruled it out either. The fact is, if anyone thought an NFL gig was in his future, that future seemed a long way off.
Do you remember Gerry Faust? He had a hard enough time transitioning from elite high school coach to college coach back in the early 1980s. Faust had almost 20 years of coaching experience on his resume and failed at Notre Dame.
Were Rivers to take over the Bills, it would be an even greater challenge. Colts’ fans no doubt recall a more recent parallel when Jeff Saturday became interim coach in 2022 and stumbled through a 1-7 record.
The reason Colts’ fans might want to pay attention to the latest Rivers news is this: if this is a signal that Philip Rivers is serious about coaching in the NFL, perhaps he will consider a more typical route. That means gaining at least a few years of experience on the staff of an NFL team before ascending to the top spot.
And if that’s the case, there could be an opening coming up in Indianapolis.
Offensive coordinator Jim Bob Cooter has interviewed for the same position with the Philadelphia Eagles. This does not mean he will get the job, but it shows there is interest. For his part, Cooter may want to find a coordinator role where he can call plays, something that head coach Shane Steichen handles for the Colts.
The Colts may not lose Cooter this week. But they have to be prepared for the possibility that he will be leaving at some point.
If that happens, Indianapolis would have a coordinator role to fill. Would they consider Rivers? Would he be interested? We don’t know, but it is not such a far-fetched idea.
Or perhaps Steichen would look to promote internally. If quarterbacks coach Cam Turner or passing game coordinator Alex Tanney were tapped, that would open up another spot on the coaching staff. If he were interested in this more standard trajectory, Philip Rivers as quarterback coach, working with Daniel Jones and Riley Leonard, would seem like a pretty good fit.
All this supposes that Rivers is interested in working his way up the coaching ladder, and no one really knows his state of mind. He may only be interested in leaving his simpler life as a high school coach if he can run the entire show as the head man. It may be Buffalo or bust as far as Rivers is concerned.
But the door is open at least a little bit. Before this week, very few people knew that Rivers was considering coaching in the NFL. Now we at least know that much. Perhaps he is thinking about it far more than we know.