To this day, the retirement of Hall of Fame Detroit Lions running back Barry Sanders is one of the most shocking decisions in NFL history. Sanders retired just before the 1999 after playing ten seasons in the NFL. What made the choice so surprising is that Sanders was still in the middle of his prime and less than two years removed from an MVP season in 1997 when he rushed for 2,053 yards. He ran for over 1,000 yards in every season he played and had at least 1,490 yards rushing in the five seasons leading up to his retirement.

Almost 25 years later, Sanders' story has been further revealed in a new Amazon documentary about the Hall of Famer. In this, Sanders explains several factors that led to his retirement.

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“For me, just that thing that drove me to play, which is that passion, just wasn't there,” Sanders said. “There was nothing really left to play for. I didn't see us as any kind of a serious Super Bowl contender. … I felt like I was making a pretty clear decision. I just felt like, in my mind, this is pretty much it,” via CBS Sports' Bryan DeArdo.

During Barry Sanders' tenure with Detroit, the Lions won one playoff game — the only one they've won in the Super Bowl era. While Sanders could have gone on to break even more individual NFL records and potentially the career rushing yards record, he instead stopped his career early in part because his team lacked success. What else he could have accomplished had he not cut his career short will forever remain a ‘what if.'