Lynch among a few Broncos who might retire

DENVER - Broncos safety John Lynch seemed near tears after Sunday’s game when talking about the possibility that his NFL career might be over.

Lynch said he hasn’t made any decisions, and he will talk to his family and coach Mike Shanahan in the next few weeks to determine if he will come back for a 16th season. However, he admitted that he thought a few times about the possibility that Sunday was his finale.

“I’ve tried to play football and make those decisions at the proper time, but human nature kicks in and yeah, there were moments when you try to soak it in,” Lynch said. “We’ll see.”

Lynch’s emotions aren’t a true indication he will retire. Packers quarterback Brett Favre cried during a television interview after the season finale last year but came back. But Lynch did deal with a scary injury earlier this year, a pinched nerve in his neck that was similar to the problems he had in 2003 before undergoing neck surgery. Perhaps because of that, his tone about retirement has been different from previous years.

“I’ve always said I’ll evaluate each year, but I’ve known what I was doing, but this year there’s a question,” Lynch said.

Another player who could ponder retirement is left tackle Matt Lepsis, who has played 11 seasons and had a down year after having knee surgery last year.

“I don’t know. I’m not talking about it,” Lepsis said about his future.

Elam winner

Kicker Jason Elam hit his fourth game-winning field goal of the season in overtime against Minnesota and said Sunday’s game was a bit different for him.

He is a free agent this offseason, and while he probably will be back, he said he didn’t know what would happen. He made sure to take everything in.

“There were times I was walking around today and thinking ‘I don’t know if I’ll be in this locker room again, I don’t know if I’ll be in this training room, I don’t know....,’” he said. “You never know.”

Williams remembered

During pregame warm-ups, safety Nick Ferguson wore a No. 27 Darrent Williams jersey in honor of Williams, who was shot and killed Jan. 1.

“This is the year anniversary and it was good of Nick to do it,” Lynch said. “He’s been on our hearts and minds each and every day.”

Shanahan said he wouldn’t tell his players anything about being safe if they went out Sunday or tonight.

“We’ve got grown men,” he said. “I think people are smart enough to understand what happened last year, obviously a very sensitive topic with our football team, and we understand how to act and handle ourselves.”

Henry limited

Running back Travis Henry was in for only a few plays in the first half, didn’t touch the ball and Andre Hall backed up Selvin Young the rest of the game. Shanahan said there was no new injury to Henry, but Henry’s knee still is bothering him. The Broncos wanted to run outside against a good Vikings defense, and Young and Hall were better options to do that.

“He’s just not back to full speed,” Shanahan said.