John Elway was the glorious exception to the painful rule. The end of his 16-year career with the Broncos was storybook stuff. Elway retired having won two consecutive championships and was MVP of Super Bowl XXXIII, his final game. Every pass he threw as a pro came as a Bronco.
Joe Montana was not nearly as fortunate.
Nor were fellow Hall of Fame quarterbacks Johnny Unitas, Joe Namath and Brett Favre. They finished their careers broken, hurting and painfully divorced from their original football families.
Now the Broncos' Peyton Manning, at age 39, after 14 seasons in Indianapolis and four in Denver, is facing his football mortality.