Philip Rivers may not have a Super Bowl ring, but he’s arguably the great quarterback in the history of the 57-yard history of the San Diego Chargers.
Rivers passed ex-Chargers quarterback and Hall of Famer Dan Fouts on the franchise’s all-time passing list during the second quarter of Thursday’s game against the Denver Broncos. Rivers broke Fouts’ record on a 12-yard completion to rookie tight end Hunter Henry.
“I’m not going to lie, it means a lot,” Rivers told ESPN prior to breaking the record. “When you’re 25 or 26 you say, ‘I’ll look back one day and appreciate it.’ Now you say ‘what in the world? How did this happen?'”
The 34-year-old quarterback was off to an extremely hot start against one of the best secondaries in the league Thursday. After the completion that broke the record, Rivers was 11-of-13 for 131 yards and a touchdown.
Rivers sits alone on top of the Chargers all-time passer lists with 43,047 yards and counting. He also broken Fouts’ franchise passing touchdowns record against the Cincinnati Bengals last season. Rivers entered Thursday’s game with 292 touchdowns.
The 34-year-old also holds the team record for quarterback wins (93) and passing completions (3,579).
By passing Fouts, Rivers moved into 13th place all time on the NFL passing list. He is about 1,300 yards behind Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, who was part of the same 2004 draft class. Eli Manning, who the Chargers drafted No. 1 overall famously traded on draft day in 2004, is in 10th place and 2,500 yards ahead of Rivers.
The Chargers quarterback is also ninth all-time on the passing touchdowns list. He entered Thursday’s game seven behind Manning for eighth all-time.
