Colts' Philip Rivers: Heading to bench for Week 18

Rivers is set to move to the bench for Sunday's regular-season finale against the Texans with the Colts planning to have rookie Riley Leonard start at quarterback, Stephen Holder and Jeremy Fowler of ESPN.com report.

After being officially eliminated from playoff contention over the weekend, the Colts will give reps to younger players like Leonard in Week 18. The 44-year-old Rivers ends a brief run as the Colts' starter after he was lured out of retirement following Daniel Jones' season-ending Achilles injury in Week 14. Though the team went 0-3 with Rivers under center, he performed competently in his first NFL action since the 2020 season, completing 58 of 92 attempts for 544 yards, four touchdowns and three interceptions. Rivers is expected to head back into retirement following the season finale.