After last game in KC, Philip Rivers told story of fun interaction with a Chiefs fan
The Chargers’ announcement Monday that they were mutually parting ways with long-time quarterback Philip Rivers didn’t come as a shock.
After all, following the Chargers’ regular-season finale at Arrowhead Stadium in December, Rivers answered a number of questions about potentially playing his final game with the franchise.
Rivers will be a free agent when the 2020 NFL season begins, and where he plays next is anyone’s guess. There is a chance Rivers, 38, won’t play another game at Arrowhead Stadium, and he admitted in December he had been emotional during the final weeks of the season at the thought of ending his time with the Chargers.
After the Chiefs won 31-21 in December, Rivers gave his gloves to a Chiefs fan behind the Chargers bench and told a great story about visiting what is now Joe’s Kansas City.
“It was one guy in particular back there that you almost feel like you’ve gotten to know over the how many years he’s been back there,” Rivers told reporters. “I laugh because many years ago, me and (former Chargers quarterback) Charlie Whitehurst were going to Oklahoma Joe’s and the line was long. We were in there and there was nothing but Chiefs fans everywhere and now we’ve been seen from being in such a busy place. We’ve been standing there for about 3 minutes and we decided we’d go ahead and leave.
“So, the next day, I’m here at the game and this guy hollers at me, ‘Hey Rivers, let me tell you how we do it at Oklahoma Joe’s. You stand in line and then you order just like everybody else.’ There’s always just been this back and forth with him. He gives it to me and then we’ll make a good play and he’ll say, ‘OK, I’ll give it to you’. We caught eye contact at some point today and he said, ‘Can I get those?’ So, I thought why not, if it’s the last time in here.”
In his last 11 games against the Chiefs, Rivers threw 12 touchdown passes and 21 interceptions, and KC fans have poked fun at his penchant for turning the ball over.
And while some fans may have thought Rivers was a perpetual pest to Chiefs players, he did wish them well in the playoffs.
“I love to go at it with those guys, as everybody knows, but I also have a great respect for them and how hard they play,” Rivers said in December. “Afterwards, you just tell them to go get ‘em. There was maybe a glimpse of it maybe my last time here or last time in that uniform, I think that’s a possibility. I tried not to get too far ahead.”
This story was originally published February 11, 2020 at 9:36 AM.
