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Winning a Super Bowl in the final season is the ultimate way to send off an NFL legend. It's a difficult goal to accomplish, but a few NFL legends have been able to pull it off. Here are five times that an all-time great won the ring in their final season.
NFL legends who retired on a high due to a Super Bowl victory
#1 - Peyton Manning
Peyton Manning is one of the greatest quarterbacks of all time. He won five NFL MVP awards in his career, the most of any player in NFL history. He won his first Super Bowl earlier in his career with the Indianapolis Colts before winning a second one with the Denver Broncos in his final season before retiring. He cemented his legacy with the second ring.
#2 - John Elway
Before becoming an executive for the Denver Broncos, John Elway had a legendary career as their quarterback. The only thing he was missing from his Hall of Fame resume was a championship. He finally achieved this by winning two consecutive rings in the final two seasons of his playing career.
NFL legends who won a Super Bowl in their final season before retirement
Here are five legendary NFL players who went out on top of the NFL by winning a ring in their final season.
#3 - Ray Lewis
Ray Lewis is widely accepted as one of the greatest middle linebackers to ever play the game, recording more than 2,000 tackles in his career. His dominance helped the Baltimore Ravens win two Super Bowls during his career, and one of them was the final season before his retirement. He was named the MVP of the game for the first ring.
#4 - Michael Strahan
Michael Strahan's 141.5 career sacks rank him in the top ten of all time. He also set the record for most sacks in a single season. He was one of the key players for the New York Giants when they defeated the New England Patriots in the Super Bowl. Strahan retired following the game at the highest point of his career.
#5 - Jerome Bettis
Jerome "The Bus" Bettis finished his career in the top ten in rushing yards in NFL history. While that's a great individual accomplishment, Bettis always claimed that winning a championship was the most important goal of his career. It took him all the way until his final season, but he finally won one and retired as a Pittsburgh Steelers legend.
