Philip Rivers still moves the needle.
The Athletic’s Zak Keefer noted this week that the Colts’ 18-16 loss to the Seahawks registered as the most-watched Colts game in the Indianapolis market on CBS in five years, per CBS Sports.
Rivers, making his first NFL appearance since January 2021, delivered what networks crave, even if he couldn’t deliver Indianapolis a win.
The Philip Rivers effect: Sunday’s game in Seattle was the most-watched Colts game in the Indianapolis market on CBS in five years, per @CBSSportsGang.
— Zak Keefer (@zkeefer) December 17, 2025
Rivers’ name recognition still carries weight in Indianapolis after his 2020 season with the franchise. The 44-year-old grandfather coming out of retirement to rescue a playoff-hopeful team is the kind of storyline that transcends diehard NFL fans and pulls in casual viewers.
Philip Rivers went 18-of-27 for 120 yards with a touchdown and an interception. He survived, which seemed to be the primary goal going into Seattle. The Colts held a 13-6 halftime lead behind a conservative game plan built around Jonathan Taylor and clock management. Rivers threw a touchdown to Josh Downs late in the second quarter, his 422nd career scoring pass.
The second half stalled. Indianapolis managed just 41 yards on three consecutive punts to open the half. Blake Grupe’s 60-yard field goal gave the Colts a 16-15 lead with 47 seconds remaining, but Jason Myers answered with a 56-yarder with 18 seconds left to win it for Seattle.
Rivers’ lone season with Indianapolis drew solid attention as the franchise went 11-5 with him at quarterback. He threw for 4,169 yards with 24 touchdowns and 11 interceptions that year at age 39 before retiring. The veteran signal-caller knew Shane Steichen’s system from their time together in San Diego, and J.J. Watt revealed that Rivers had been running the same offense with his son’s high school team this season while talking with the Colts head coach weekly.
Sunday’s game pulled better numbers than anything the Colts have done locally in half a decade, which says plenty about both Philip Rivers’ lingering appeal and the Anthony Richardson era’s inability to capture the market’s attention the same way.
About Sam Neumann
Since the beginning of 2023, Sam has been a staff writer for Awful Announcing and The Comeback. A 2021 graduate of Temple University, Sam is a Charlotte native, who currently calls Greenville, South Carolina his home. He also has a love/hate relationship with the New York Mets and Jets.