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Philip Rivers, who retired yesterday, ended his series of 240 consecutive games and 252 counted the playoffs. It was the longest active series in the NFL, and the second longest series in NFL history.
With Rivers’ retirement, Russell Wilson has now started the longest active series in a row through a quarter, at 144 games, and 160 playoff games.
To give an idea of how unlikely it is that someone will break Brett Favre’s record of all time, you need to consider this: Wilson has the longest active series, but he’s not even halfway started with Favre’s record of 297 consecutive (321 playoffs).
When Buccaneers fullback Tom Brady takes the field in the NFC Championship Game, it will be his 89th consecutive start. This is the second longest active series in the NFL. The playoffs count, Brady has three of the 18 longest streaks of consecutive games started in NFL history. Brady started 128 consecutive games from his first kick-off as Drew Bledsoe’s replacement to his knee injury in 2008. Then Brady started 126 consecutive games from his return from the knee injury to his Deflategate suspension in 2016. And now Brady is at 88 consecutive starting games.
As the NFL plans to move on to 17 game seasons, it will be a little easier for a quarterback to catch up with Favre. But even at 17 games per regular season per year, Wilson is nine years away from Favre.