Miami at Denver


Broncos get their wish


Champs assess chinks in armor


Dolphins swimming upstream

DENVER -- Be prepared, Denver.

	John Elway said before the season there was a "99.9-percent chance" he would retire.

Be prepared, perhaps one week from now and maybe two, to say your last home-field goodbyes to the great John Elway.

It is time to move past this great civic denial of the inevitable.

Because the time we thought would never come is upon us. It might happen next Saturday, or two Sundays from now, but we are fast approaching the time to say thank you and farewell to the most important athlete Denver has ever known.

No, Elway will not commit one way or the other on the retirement question. On that, he has remained frustratingly consistent. "I'll cross that bridge when I come to it," he said the other day.

But those who know him best -- friends and teammates -- remain convinced there will be no changes of heart, no springtime dalliances with yet another Farewell Tour. Those who know him best say he has returned to the odds he originally laid down the summer afternoon he announced his return for 1998: He was, and they say he still is, 99.9 percent sure he's retiring.

The only thing -- the only thing -- some teammates think might bring Elway back for yet another season is if the Broncos win the Super Bowl, giving them the chance to become the only team to win three consecutive championships.

But even then, the feeling around the organization is that this playoff run is Elway's valedictory. And almost nothing can change that.

Think about it: Why would he come back, anyway?

He has his Super Bowl ring and might have a second one before all this is over.

He has the record for being the game's winningest quarterback, the milestones for throwing for more than 50,000 yards (a record he cherishes), for throwing exactly 300 touchdown passes.

He has fulfilled his tacit promise to his friend, Broncos coach Mike Shanahan, by sticking around for a chance to repeat as a champion. And he has done right by team owner Pat Bowlen, who believed he needed Elway's help in securing the new stadium. (Don't be shocked when the newly retired Elway gets a big chunk of ownership.) His legacy is secure, for now and for always.

As one teammate wondered, "Why would John put himself through all the pain he went through this season?"

Again, you remember, when he announced his return this summer, he said he was 99.9 percent sure he was playing his final season. But as the season unfolded with some fun and relatively easy victories, Elway began to wonder why he shouldn't keep playing. In an interview with ESPN's Jim Kelly, he suggested he would continue to do what he does best so long as he's having success, having fun and staying healthy.

Then the injuries hit. Elway and Shanahan insisted they were flukes, completely unrelated to Elway's age. The rest of us fairly wondered if this wasn't his 38-year-old body's way of saying, "You've defied the odds for too long, friend; welcome to athletic old age."

This man, who was so bionic he would actually recover from enduring a torn biceps tendon, started to see the weekly aches and pains turn into debilitating injuries. In the end, he missed all or parts of six games.

At which point, teammates believe, the odds of Elway's retirement went right back up to where they started: 99.9 percent.

For all of the good things that have happened this season -- the franchise-record 14 victories, the 501 points scored, Terrell Davis' successful assault on 2,000 yards -- this has been, at many times, one of Elway's most frustrating seasons. (At least when we're talking about non-Dan-Reeves-related seasons.) The whole year has been a giant rehabilitation session. First the hammy. Then, as the result of rehab on the hammy, the lower back. Then the ribs, an injury so painful, Elway told reporters, "I'll never take breathing for granted again."

A second teammate said, "I'd hate to see him go. There's still a lot of great football in him. But he's been through a lot of physical hell this season. You can tell it's worn on him."

On the record, everybody says the same thing and the right thing. In essence, "We hope he comes back, but we respect his decision and respect his right to make that decision whenever he feels the time is right."

And there's no disagreement about that here.

But if you're a fan, an admirer, a sentimentalist, there's a part of you that wants to know, sooner rather than later, whether it's time to emotionally gird yourself in preparation for an Elway goodbye. You want to tune in to Mile High Stadium this week or the week thereafter with some assurance that this is it, Elway's last predominantly orange Denver Sunday.

So there is only one way to be safe here: Tune in Saturday prepared to see Elway for the very last time. And, if not then, tune in the following Sunday, again primed to shower Denver's favorite son with a farewell worthy of his stature. Because it is not likely you will see him on a football field again. Or, for that matter, anybody like him.

Bob Kravitz writes for The Denver Rocky Mountain News in Denver.