Where he was when he retired was stringing together 7-2, 10-5 and 8-5 starts. Jimbo was limping to the finish line of a solid career.
Plus, see below..
His contemporaries were Elway (16 seasons), Moon (17 seasons --in NFL), Marino (16 seasons), Young (15 seasons), Esiason (14 seasons), etc.
in 1994, Marino was still putting up almost 4500 yards. Moon at 4300 and Young about 4000. Same for Elway.
All took the same beatings.