Broncos' Miller Retires, Again

January 3, 2000 / 4:35 PM EST / CBS/AP

Reluctantly but with no regrets, Denver Broncos quarterback Chris Miller surrendered to a career-long plague of concussions and retired Monday.

"Physically, I feel I have the tools and can play at this level and compete," Miller said. "It's just unfortunate that I don't have the melon, as I call it, to keep going. I just can't take that wrong hit the wrong way."

Miller, who left the game for three years on the advice of his doctors because of a series of concussions, was cleared to play again last spring and signed with the Broncos.

Originally the Broncos' third-string quarterback, he started three games this season but sustained another concussion in a Monday night game against Oakland on Nov. 22. Broncos coach Mike Shanahan recommended that Miller retire, and the 34-year-old Miller did not suit up for the final five games.

Shanahan was concerned that Miller's latest concussion came on a relatively mild hit while Miller was carrying out a fake on a running play.

Miller agreed.

"I took some hard hits this year," Miller said, "and then it was just one funky carrying-out-a-run-fake, and a guy comes and hits me in the head and that one happens to be the one. The symptoms hung around too long. I felt crummy for two or three weeks."

His wife, Jennifer, had urged him to stop playing, Miller said.

"Initially, I selfishly decided I was going to go back and play (last spring)," Miller said. "She went along with it. But now, she says, it's time where it's a family decision. If I didn't have a family and wasn't married, I probably would have come back to play. I would probably take that risk."

"But this is the wise thing to do, for my wife and my kids, and to make sure that I have a good quality of life later and don't turn into a total mush-head."

Seeing his first action since 1995, Miller engineered a 33-17 win over San Diego on Nov. 7. He played well in a 20-17 loss in Seattle the following week, and he departed in the fourth quarter of the next game against Oakland, which the Broncos won 27-21 in overtime.

For the season, he completed 46 of 81 passes for 527 yards with two touchdowns and one interception. In his 10-year NFL career, he threw for 19,320 yards with 123 TDs and 102 interceptions.

"I had a great time and enjoyed coming back and playing," he said. "I don't have any regrets."

"I would love to have played three, four or five more years, especially with this organization. But I think if I did, my wife would kick me out of our new house."

"I had a ball here. But I've got to move on."

Miller, who also played for Atlanta and the Rams and who went to the Pro Bowl in 1991 after passing for 3,103 yards and 26 ouchdowns, returned home to Eugene, Ore., after Monday's press conference. He said he hoped to work in broadcasting or coaching at the high-school level in the future.

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