Philip Rivers and The Chargers Are 5-18 In Their Last 23 Games Decided By One Score

by Chase Stuart on September 12, 2017

Sometimes, the headlines speak for themselves. After last night — the Chargers lost when the potential game-tying field goal was blocked in the final second — Los Angeles nee San Diego has now lost 18 of its last 23 games decided by 8 or fewer points.

Query Results Table
												Poin	Poin	Poin
Rk	Tm	Year	Date ▼	Time		Opp	Week	G#	Day	Result	OT	PF	PA	PD
1	SDG	2017	2017-09-11	10:20	@	DEN	1	1	Mon	L 21-24		21	24	-3
2	SDG	2016	2016-12-24	1:00	@	CLE	16	15	Sat	L 17-20		17	20	-3
3	SDG	2016	2016-12-18	4:25		OAK	15	14	Sun	L 16-19		16	19	-3
4	SDG	2016	2016-12-04	4:25		TAM	13	12	Sun	L 21-28		21	28	-7
5	SDG	2016	2016-11-27	1:00	@	HOU	12	11	Sun	W 21-13		21	13	8
6	SDG	2016	2016-11-13	4:05		MIA	10	10	Sun	L 24-31		24	31	-7
7	SDG	2016	2016-11-06	4:25		TEN	9	9	Sun	W 43-35		43	35	8
8	SDG	2016	2016-10-30	4:05	@	DEN	8	8	Sun	L 19-27		19	27	-8
9	SDG	2016	2016-10-23	4:05	@	ATL	7	7	Sun	W 33-30	OT	33	30	3
10	SDG	2016	2016-10-13	8:25		DEN	6	6	Thu	W 21-13		21	13	8
11	SDG	2016	2016-10-09	4:25	@	OAK	5	5	Sun	L 31-34		31	34	-3
12	SDG	2016	2016-10-02	4:25		NOR	4	4	Sun	L 34-35		34	35	-1
13	SDG	2016	2016-09-25	4:25	@	IND	3	3	Sun	L 22-26		22	26	-4
14	SDG	2016	2016-09-11	1:05	@	KAN	1	1	Sun	L 27-33	OT	27	33	-6
15	SDG	2015	2016-01-03	4:25	@	DEN	17	16	Sun	L 20-27		20	27	-7
16	SDG	2015	2015-12-24	8:26	@	OAK	16	15	Thu	L 20-23	OT	20	23	-3
17	SDG	2015	2015-12-13	1:03	@	KAN	14	13	Sun	L 3-10		3	10	-7
18	SDG	2015	2015-11-29	1:03	@	JAX	12	11	Sun	W 31-25		31	25	6
19	SDG	2015	2015-11-09	8:30		CHI	9	9	Mon	L 19-22		19	22	-3
20	SDG	2015	2015-11-01	1:02	@	BAL	8	8	Sun	L 26-29		26	29	-3
21	SDG	2015	2015-10-25	4:05		OAK	7	7	Sun	L 29-37		29	37	-8
22	SDG	2015	2015-10-18	4:25	@	GNB	6	6	Sun	L 20-27		20	27	-7
23	SDG	2015	2015-10-12	8:30		PIT	5	5	Mon	L 20-24		20	24	-4

Provided by Pro-Football-Reference.com: View Original Table

For his career, Philip Rivers has a 54-26 record in games decided by more than 8 points, and a 43-54 record in games decided by 8 or fewer points. Read differently, Rivers has lost 28 *more* times in close games than in non-close games. That is (for now) tied with Rich Gannon for the largest spread ever.

The table below shows the record for all QBs prior to 2017 (in other words, this is not updated for week 1) with at least 40 starts in both close games and non-close games. Here’s how to read the table below. Gannon last played in 2004, and had 34 wins in close games, 42 losses in close games, and zero ties, for a 0.447 winning percentage. In “big” games – i.e., decided by more than one score — he had 42 wins and 14 losses, for a 0.750 winning percentage. He had 28 more losses in close games than big games, which is the column at the far right.

QB	Last Year	CG W	CG L	CG T	CG Win%	Big W	Big L	Big Win%	Extra Losses
Rich Gannon	2004	34	42	0	0.447	42	14	0.750	28
Philip Rivers	2016	43	53	0	0.448	54	26	0.675	27
Joe Flacco	2016	41	40	0	0.506	42	15	0.737	25
John Elway	1998	72	52	1	0.580	76	30	0.717	22
Ron Jaworski	1989	36	45	1	0.445	37	24	0.607	21
Randall Cunningham	2001	39	36	1	0.520	43	16	0.729	20
Steve Beuerlein	2003	22	37	0	0.373	25	18	0.581	19
Aaron Rodgers	2016	33	31	0	0.516	57	14	0.803	17
Russell Wilson	2016	20	19	1	0.513	36	4	0.900	15
Joe Montana	1994	43	31	0	0.581	74	16	0.822	15
Brad Johnson	2008	34	34	0	0.500	38	19	0.667	15
Drew Bledsoe	2006	49	55	0	0.471	49	40	0.551	15
Mark Brunell	2006	41	44	0	0.482	37	29	0.561	15
Donovan McNabb	2011	38	38	1	0.500	60	24	0.714	14
Ben Roethlisberger	2016	51	37	0	0.580	72	23	0.758	14
Drew Brees	2016	61	57	0	0.517	70	44	0.614	13
Tom Brady	2016	70	32	0	0.686	113	20	0.850	12
Tony Romo	2015	33	30	0	0.524	45	19	0.703	11
Steve Young	1999	29	29	0	0.500	65	20	0.765	9
Trent Green	2007	27	33	0	0.450	29	24	0.547	9
Peyton Manning	2015	87	44	0	0.664	99	35	0.739	9
Roger Staubach	1979	31	18	0	0.633	54	11	0.831	7
Andy Dalton	2016	23	21	2	0.522	33	14	0.702	7
Ken Stabler	1983	43	28	1	0.604	53	21	0.716	7
Craig Morton	1982	31	34	1	0.477	50	28	0.641	6
Cam Newton	2016	22	23	1	0.489	29	17	0.630	6
Steve McNair	2007	38	34	0	0.528	53	28	0.654	6
Bobby Hebert	1996	26	25	0	0.510	30	19	0.612	6
Matthew Stafford	2016	33	32	0	0.508	18	26	0.409	6
Kurt Warner	2009	22	27	0	0.449	45	22	0.672	5
Matt Ryan	2016	45	31	0	0.592	40	26	0.606	5
Brian Griese	2008	19	21	0	0.475	26	17	0.605	4
Steve Bartkowski	1986	28	36	0	0.438	31	32	0.492	4
Jeff Garcia	2008	28	31	0	0.475	30	27	0.526	4
Dan Marino	1999	67	48	0	0.583	80	45	0.640	3
Gus Frerotte	2008	23	25	1	0.480	22	22	0.500	3
Vinny Testaverde	2007	50	63	1	0.443	40	60	0.400	3
Steve Grogan	1990	30	31	0	0.492	45	29	0.608	2
Jim McMahon	1993	28	16	0	0.636	39	14	0.736	2
Phil Simms	1993	45	33	0	0.577	50	31	0.617	2
Alex Smith	2016	38	29	1	0.566	41	27	0.603	2
Carson Palmer	2016	43	43	1	0.500	46	41	0.529	2
Jay Schroeder	1994	38	20	0	0.655	23	18	0.561	2
Bart Starr	1971	29	29	6	0.500	65	28	0.699	1
Terry Bradshaw	1982	36	26	0	0.581	71	25	0.740	1
Ryan Fitzpatrick	2016	21	35	1	0.377	25	34	0.424	1
Jim Plunkett	1986	32	36	0	0.471	40	36	0.526	0
Bobby Layne	1962	36	24	4	0.594	44	24	0.647	0
Jake Delhomme	2010	28	20	0	0.583	28	20	0.583	0
Bernie Kosar	1995	27	27	1	0.500	26	27	0.491	0
Jim Harbaugh	2000	37	37	0	0.500	29	37	0.439	0
Steve DeBerg	1993	31	43	1	0.420	22	43	0.338	0
Tommy Kramer	1989	32	28	0	0.533	22	28	0.440	0
Milt Plum	1967	16	20	6	0.452	40	21	0.656	-1
Johnny Unitas	1973	42	31	4	0.571	76	32	0.704	-1
Troy Aikman	2000	36	35	0	0.507	58	36	0.617	-1
Matt Schaub	2015	23	22	0	0.511	24	23	0.511	-1
Michael Vick	2015	31	25	1	0.553	30	26	0.536	-1
Roman Gabriel	1975	28	31	7	0.477	58	33	0.637	-2
Norm Van Brocklin	1960	25	17	4	0.587	36	19	0.655	-2
Jon Kitna	2010	30	36	0	0.455	20	38	0.345	-2
Chris Miller	1999	22	28	0	0.440	12	30	0.286	-2
Greg Landry	1980	17	24	3	0.420	27	27	0.500	-3
Joe Theismann	1985	32	22	0	0.593	45	25	0.643	-3
Warren Moon	2000	46	49	0	0.484	56	52	0.519	-3
Trent Dilfer	2007	29	26	0	0.527	29	29	0.500	-3
Boomer Esiason	1997	43	45	0	0.489	37	48	0.435	-3
Chris Chandler	2003	37	41	0	0.474	30	44	0.405	-3
Jay Cutler	2016	41	34	0	0.547	27	37	0.422	-3
Brett Favre	2010	76	54	0	0.585	110	58	0.655	-4
Rodney Peete	2003	25	19	0	0.568	20	23	0.465	-4
Aaron Brooks	2006	23	24	0	0.489	15	28	0.349	-4
Ken Anderson	1985	37	38	0	0.493	54	43	0.557	-5
Daunte Culpepper	2009	23	27	0	0.460	18	32	0.360	-5
Bob Griese	1980	31	25	3	0.551	61	31	0.663	-6
George Blanda	1966	19	22	1	0.464	34	28	0.548	-6
Dan Fouts	1987	37	39	1	0.487	49	45	0.521	-6
Dave Krieg	1996	47	35	0	0.573	51	42	0.548	-7
Jim Kelly	1996	48	26	0	0.649	53	33	0.616	-7
Neil O'Donnell	2001	27	19	0	0.587	28	26	0.519	-7
Brian Sipe	1983	36	24	0	0.600	21	31	0.404	-7
Eli Manning	2016	48	41	0	0.539	60	50	0.545	-9
Jim Everett	1996	29	40	0	0.420	35	49	0.417	-9
Richard Todd	1984	25	25	1	0.500	23	34	0.404	-9
John Hadl	1977	22	32	9	0.421	60	43	0.583	-11
Neil Lomax	1988	20	20	2	0.500	27	32	0.458	-12
Joe Ferguson	1989	39	40	0	0.494	40	52	0.435	-12
Kerry Collins	2011	40	43	0	0.482	41	56	0.423	-13
Ken O'Brien	1993	25	23	1	0.520	25	36	0.410	-13
Jim Hart	1983	40	37	5	0.518	47	51	0.480	-14
Billy Kilmer	1978	27	19	1	0.585	34	33	0.507	-14
Len Dawson	1975	23	21	8	0.519	71	36	0.664	-15
Fran Tarkenton	1978	56	47	6	0.541	68	62	0.523	-15
Lynn Dickey	1985	21	24	3	0.469	24	39	0.381	-15
Dan Pastorini	1981	33	23	0	0.589	23	38	0.377	-15
Jeff Blake	2003	26	23	0	0.531	13	38	0.255	-15
Y.A. Tittle	1964	27	17	5	0.602	51	33	0.607	-16
Jim Zorn	1985	24	23	0	0.511	20	39	0.339	-16
Marc Bulger	2009	24	19	0	0.558	17	35	0.327	-16
Joe Namath	1977	23	23	4	0.500	39	40	0.494	-17
Charley Johnson	1975	28	20	8	0.571	31	37	0.456	-17
Matt Hasselbeck	2015	43	29	0	0.597	42	46	0.477	-17
Jake Plummer	2006	35	25	0	0.583	34	42	0.447	-17
Tobin Rote	1964	17	23	4	0.432	31	41	0.431	-18
Sonny Jurgensen	1974	33	26	7	0.553	36	45	0.444	-19
Norm Snead	1976	23	39	7	0.384	29	61	0.322	-22
Jeff George	2000	31	28	0	0.525	15	50	0.231	-22
Archie Manning	1983	18	38	3	0.331	17	63	0.213	-25
John Brodie	1973	32	22	8	0.581	42	54	0.438	-32

Oh and how about Russell Wilson? After the 8-point loss to the Packers in week 1, Wilson is now an even 20-20-1 in games decided by 8 or fewer points… and 36-4 in all other games! A 50% winning percentage in close games and a 90% winning percentage in all other games is even more ridiculous than Rivers’ numbers.

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