Indianapolis Colts fans all saw it in Week 15. The recently unretired Philip Rivers hadn't played in five years, had practiced for only three days, and was thrust into the environment of playing against one of the better defenses in the NFL. The Seattle Seahawks are no joke, but Rivers kept the game close.
The truth is, though, that it is clear Rivers doesn't have the arm strength now to push a ball 50 yards down the field cleanly. He also has admittedly never moved well and isn't going to outrun anyone. He's smarter than nearly any other quarterback ever, but that only gets an offense so far.
A day after the Colts lost to the Seahawks 18-16, the team announced that Anthony Richardson had been cleared to resume football activities. While Richardson hasn't proven he can master Steichen's offense, he can obviously throw the ball further and run better than Rivers ever could.
Indianapolis Colts head coach Shane Steichen ends any potential quarterback controversy
Maybe Richardson would be able to come back in the final three games, supplant Rivers as QB1, and get the mentorship from the older QB that would help everything click for AR5. If he can figure out what Steichen needs, Richardson might be unstoppable.
But Indy fans can forget all hope in terms of the Rivers and Richardson situation. Shane Steichen confirmed as much, speaking to the media on Monday. Richardson is only beginning to get back physically where he needs to be, and is extremely unlikely to play the rest of the season.
As for Rivers, Steichen said matter-of-factly, "We didn’t bring him in here to sit on the bench."
The odd part is that Steichen could have said that right after Rivers was signed, too. Instead, the team implied it wasn't sure who would start against the Seahawks, either Philip Rivers or Riley Leonard. Maybe Steichen and the Colts wanted to try to fool Seattle, but Seahawks head coach Mike Macdonald was open that the team was preparing to face Rivers.
The Indianapolis Colts simply have a weird way of doing business at times. Teams don't have to give the media and fans all the information on the internal workings of the team, of course, but often, Steichen says one thing only to make clear the next week he didn't mean what he said. And don't even dare try to get real information on injuries.
Ultimately, though, none of that matters. Winning football games does, and the Colts need to win their last three, most likely. Philip Rivers hopefully gives them the best chance to do so. That begins in Week 16 on Monday Night Football against the San Francisco 49ers.