Rivers passes through

San Diego Chargers quarterback Philip Rivers is well ahead of the pace to become the third player in National Football League history to pass for 5,000 yards in a single season. In fact, no player has aired it out as much as Rivers has during the first eight games of a season. Including his 305-yard effort in Sunday's win over the Tennessee Titans, he has thrown for 2,649 yards in the first half of the season.

Rivers, if he continues throwing the ball at this rate he'll join Hall of Famer Dan Marino and New Orleans Saints quarterback Drew Brees as the only quarterbacks to reach 5,000 yards in a single season. Marino became the first player in history to reach the milestone when he threw for a record 5,084 yards in 1984. Brees reached the plateau in 2008 when he had 5,069 yards.

Here's how Rivers compares to Marino and Brees.

Firsts to milestone passing marks
2,000 yards – Cecil Isbell, Green Bay Packers, 1942
3,000 yards – NFL: Johnny Unitas, Baltimore Colts, 1960 (3,099); AFL: Frank Tripucka, Denver Broncos, 1960 (3,038); Jack Kemp, Los Angeles Chargers, 1960 (3,018)
4,000 yards – Joe Namath, 1967
5,000 yards – Dan Marino, 1984