Curran: As Belichick turns 70, is he winding down or just getting started? originally appeared on NBC Sports Boston
Bill Belichick begins his eighth decade on the planet Saturday.
Seventy years old. Still grinding. Still inimitably, unapologetically, stubbornly, brilliantly, warmly, churlishly, successfully Bill.
The inevitable, critique/second-guessing portion of this column will come in a few paragraphs. We keep trying to figure out whether we’re at the dawn of the 3.0 version of the Patriots Dynasty or the dusk of the greatest run by one coach with one team in the history of American professional sports.
So we scrutinize every future move and rehash every past mistake trying to see if the Patriots will escape mediocrity.
If there’s not as much daily appreciation articulated, well, that’s kind of how he trained us to be. This is a guy who tried to lead a “No Days Off!!!” chant at the end of a championship parade in early 2017 to a massive crowd of people who were likely SKIPPING WORK TO BE THERE!
His relentlessness in pursuing excellence and attaining it made thirsty little monsters out of us.
He’s trained us to expect championships. Do you know how foreign and foolish that concept would have seemed when Robert Kraft hired a 48-year-old Belichick in January 2000?
In the 22 years before Belichick got here, the Patriots went to the playoffs eight times. They finished first in the AFC East four times. They went to two AFC Championship games and two Super Bowls. They never won more than 11 games in the regular season. They were under .500 seven times.
And since? They’ve finished first the AFC East 17 times. They went to 13 AFC Championship Games and nine Super Bowls, winning six. They won 12 or more games 13 times. They’ve been under .500 twice.
So it’s no surprise that fans, media and Kraft — who lamented last month the team’s three-year drought between playoff wins — are all drumming their fingers impatiently for Belichick to create another team…