With Philip Rivers retired, Russell Wilson has longest active QB starts streak

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In retiring yesterday, Philip Rivers brought to an end his streak of 240 consecutive games started, and 252 counting the playoffs. That was the longest active streak in the NFL, and the second-longest streak in NFL history.

With Rivers’ retirement, Russell Wilson now has the longest active streak of consecutive starts by a quarterback, at 144 games, and 160 counting the playoffs.

To give an idea of how unlikely it is that anyone will break Brett Favre’s all-time record, consider this: Wilson has the longest active streak, but he isn’t even halfway to Favre’s record of 297 consecutive starts (321 counting playoffs).

When Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady takes the field in the NFC Championship Game, it will be his 89th consecutive start. That’s the second-longest active streak in the NFL. Counting the playoffs, Brady has three of the 18 longest streaks of consecutive games started in NFL history. Brady started 128 consecutive games from his first start as Drew Bledsoe’s replacement until his 2008 knee injury. Then Brady started 126 consecutive games from his return from that knee injury until his 2016 Deflategate suspension. And now Brady is at 88 consecutive starts.

With the NFL planning to move to 17-game seasons, it will get a little easier for a quarterback to catch up to Favre. But even at 17 regular-season games a year, Wilson is nine years away from tying Favre.