MIAMI -- Sixteen years ago, the Colts made John Elway the first pick of the 1983 college draft. He told them, essentially, to go to hell.

That was so long ago the Colts were still in Baltimore, so distant that Elway was only 22 years old. The Colts were forced to trade Elway to the Denver Broncos. Elway has taken them to the Super Bowl five times now, and won the past two.

	Did John Elway like the feeling of scoring a touchdown enough to come back for another season?

"I thank God every night,'' Elway said Monday morning. "It's amazing, when you look back on it. You make some decisions, especially when I was young, and a lot of people didn't agree with them. But I made the decision and it turned out to be right.

"It had nothing to do with the people in Baltimore. You know, you go with your heart. Your heart tells you, right or wrong, what decisions you think you should make.''

Elway has another critical decision before him. Should he play or should he go?

He will consult his wife Janet, his four children, Denver head coach Mike Shanahan and owner Pat Bowlen. My suspicion? He will listen politely but not hear them until later. He will go with the thing that made him the Super Bowl XXXIII MVP at the age of 38. He will go with his heart.

He said as much at his Monday morning Super Bowl MVP news conference. After discussing all the pros and cons of leaving on top or returning for an unprecedented three-peat, Elway tapped his heart with his right hand.

"I'll probably do,'' he said, "what's right here.''

After a long deliberation following last year's Super Bowl victory, Elway made the commitment for one more season. Publicly, he refused to admit he was a lame duck, but the widespread belief in the Broncos organization was that he was done. Anyone who saw his victory lap at Mile High Stadium after the victory over the Jets in the AFC Championship game couldn't disagree.

But then something happened down here. Something weird and, frankly, magical. After a week off and another week in the warm South Florida sun, Elway was rejuvenated. His arm -- dead in Denver against New York -- came alive. And when the Atlanta Falcons dropped eight men in the box to stop running back Terrell Davis, they were simply daring Elway to throw the ball.

This, he did. He completed 18 of 29 passes for 336 yards, the third-highest total in Super Bowl history. He was the unanimous choice for MVP. Clearly, Elway was moved by his own performance.

And so the man who may have had his mind made up to leave the game, had something new to consider. It's called reasonable doubt.

"It would be great to come back and three-peat,'' Elway said, "but also it would be nice to walk away forever after the way I'm playing right now. There's such a fine line, because as a football player I'll never want to not play football. It's just such a fine line. I'm one of those guys, I don't want to walk away too late. But I also know that if I played like I played last night then I could play a little bit longer.''

He did not sound like a man ready to leave the grand stage.

"You get down here and the warmth kind of seeps all the way down to your bones,'' Elway said. "I felt great last night, and the ball felt great in my hand.''

How long will the feeling last? When the euphoria fades, will Elway be able to renew the terrible commitment required of a championship season? Or will he simply not have the strength? Michael Jordan, for instance, will be playing golf not basketball when the NBA season opens later this week.

	"	You get down here and the warmth kind of seeps all the way down to your bones. I felt great last night, and the ball felt great in my hand. "
		-- John Elway

Elway's teammates, of course, will spend the next few months reminding him of the buzz he felt after winning his second Super Bowl ring. Shanahan will lobby, too.

"I'm hoping he sits back and says, 'Hey, I'm going to give it one more shot,' '' Shanahan said. "I'm hoping that he gives me one or two more years.''

Last year, Elway vacillated right up until training camp. He said Monday he would like to decide by April. That's when the college draft is.

"John understands our position,'' Shanahan said. "If we could know by the draft, it could probably help us out. John's going to do what's best for our organization, and at the same time be fair to himself. He's going to sit back and reflect on what happened over the year and not make a quick decision. He will make a decision on what's best for him.''

Who is to say what is best for John Elway? If he listened to all the sentimental pundits who said he should go out on top after beating the Green Bay Packers, he would have been denied this incredible experience. Who knows? With Davis carrying the ball, with that defense and Shanahan's strident, but even-keel leadership, can anyone say it couldn't happen again?

After going 0-for-3 in the Super Bowl, how does 3-for-3 sound?

Elway looked tired on Monday morning. He hadn't slept. That's why you have to take his words at face value.

"I just want to say that I really never thought I'd be standing up the morning after the Super Bowl as the MVP,'' he said to open his press conference. "And it's really one of the great thrills of my career, and I've had many. I never thought this would happen to me.

"After you lose three in a row, you're just hoping you win. This is all a bonus to me. That's why it's such a great thrill for me.

"I still feel like this morning's last night. I never had a chance to lay down and change days. It's still Sunday to me.''

That electric Sunday, Super Bowl feeling. Athletes play their whole careers, hoping, dreaming of that feeling.

If he retires, Elway will never feel it again. If he doesn't ...

Greg Garber writes regularly for ESPN.com.