Tom Brady, his voice cracking, thanked the Tampa Bay organisation and the media after the Buccaneers had their season end with a 31-14 loss to the visiting Dallas Cowboys in an NFC wild-card playoff game.
However, the 45-year-old quarterback did not state whether he plans to return to the Buccaneers, seek another NFL destination or head into retirement.
"I love this organisation, it's a great place to be," Brady said.
Earlier, he said of the next steps in his decision-making process: "I'm going to go home and get a good night's sleep, at least as good as I can tonight.
"There has been a lot of focus on this game. It will be one day at a time - truly."
Brady announced his retirement last February, then changed his mind 40 days later and decided to return for his 23rd NFL season.
Whenever he finally decides to step away, Brady will conclude one of the most decorated NFL careers of all time. Among his all-time records - most Super Bowl championships (seven), most regular-season wins by a quarterback (251), most postseason wins by a quarterback (35), most passes completed (7753), most pass attempts (12,050), most passing yards (89,214) and most passing touchdowns (649).
He is a three-time NFL Most Valuable Player and a 15-time Pro Bowl selection.
Brady spent his first 20 seasons with New England Patriots, then joined the Buccaneers before the 2020 season and led them to a Super Bowl championship in his first campaign.
In 2021, he led the NFL in passing yards (5316) and passing touchdowns (43), but those numbers fell to 4694 and 25 respectively in 2022, as the Buccaneers went 8-9. Tampa Bay made the playoffs as the champion of the weak NFC South, before getting hammered by Dallas.
Asked whether he viewed the season as a disappointment, Brady said: "We lost tonight. It's a team sport, so I never considered any individual things like that, and obviously we came up short as a team and that's really all that matters.
"That's all I've ever really cared about is team success - how well we did as a team and how well we performed under pressure - and tonight was obviously not one of our best nights."
Reuters
