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 After 10 years, Rob Gronkowski and the Patriots are World Champions once again. (USA TODAY Images) |
GLENDALE, Ariz. - It won't take you ten years to climb Mount Greylock, Mount Washington, or even Mount Everest.
Unless you're the New England Patriots.
The Patriots have finally scaled the Mount Everest of the NFL. There is no more rarefied air in the world that at the summit of the world's highest peak. The Patriots now stand at the top of pro football's highest peak. Instead of Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay waiting for them, men like Vince Lombardi, Chuck Noll and Bill Walsh are there to shake Bill Belichick's hand, congratulating him on his finally successful ascent.
These three gentlemen, of course, would appear in spiritual form. Belichick might be the same if he were to actually attempt to climb the real thing. Instead, we will speak metaphorically and extrapolate to the NFL this supreme and much anticipated ascension to the highest high of pro football.
The Patriots now belong there. Finally.
This was supposed to happen in 2007. But the New York Giants ruined the seemingly inevitable coronation, as well as a perfect season. This was supposed to happen again in 2011. See previous paragraph, minus the perfect season part.
The Patriots have finally won Super Bowl number four. This now pulls them even with Green Bay and the Giants for third all time. San Francisco and Dallas have five, Pittsburgh has six. Other than the Giants, all of these teams are considered to be among the finest dynasties in NFL history, or at least since the birth of the AFL in 1960. Belichick has now won four Super Bowls, pulling him even with Noll for most ever by a head coach.
When you look back on the 54-year history of the Patriots, you won't immediately think of investigations, unscrupulous game plans and press conference arrogance. You'll remember what the Patriots used to be perceived as, the many bad years with many bad players and mediocre coaches, and the unruly fans who used to get drunk and turn old Schaefer Stadium into Animal House.
You will instead think of the Patriots as the true gold standard. Everything they were not under Billy Sullivan, they are under Bob Kraft. Belichick will make you forget there was ever a Clive Rush. This 15-year run of excellence will be far more enduring than anything involving Monday Night Football in the 1970s, Lisa Olson or anything with the suffix -gate.
The Bruins were a fun topic earlier this decade, and their Cup win was nice. So was the Ceitlcs' only title with Paul Pierce. Sorry, Paul and Patrice, but this is much more majestic and awe inspiring.
After a very long time where many thousands of Red Sox fans could have been born, lived and died, the Olde Towne Team has won three World Series since Y2K. What the Patriots have accomplished in the Kraft Era is far more impressive. The 2004 World Series was the biggest emotional heart tug, we all agree. Winning the whole thing at Fenway two years ago in the shadow of Boston Strong was timeless. This run by the Patriots is bigger.
All speculation and thinking to the contrary ended Sunday night. The Patriots are now, without any doubt or preponderance, one of the best teams in NFL history, if not the best.
The Lombardi Packers did win three in a row and five of seven. That was in a smaller league with no free agency and little, if any, player movement. Running the power sweep today would mean navigating your way through faster and bigger linebackers and more powerful safeties. And how would Lombardi deal with the NFL prima donna of today? Could you see what would happen if Lombardi ordered Pacman Jones to swim the Fox River as punishment?
The Steelers won four of six Super Bowls, then won two since Y2K. It's the Noll Steelers that are the most enduring for that city, not the Roethlisberger Steelers. Yes, they were very good. For six years. Here, it's been going on 15 years now.
The 49ers have always been Kraft's role model. He wanted the Patriots to emulate that franchise. Their run of greatness from 1981 to 1994 is much like what the Patriots are doing now. They won five Super Bowls, four with Joe Montana, one with Steve Young, and never lost one. Otherwise, Kraft's vision of Walsh East came true.
Dallas won three of four Super Bowls in the 1990s. They won two with Roger Staubach and three with Troy Aikman. Owner Jerry Jones fired head coach Jimmy Johnson in a fit of pique, won one more with Barry Switzer, and have won none since. Jones broke up that machine, but it was a good machine when all the parts were in place.
Now you have the Patriots. Three of four Super Bowl wins. A fourth ten years later. Many division championships and AFC Championship Games in between. They now sit at the table.
Or rather, Belichick now stands at the NFL summit with the spirits of the three aforementioned head coaching greats. The Patriots, the same franchise who were called "Patsies", are now where they have always wanted to be. At the top. The real top.
And for those of you who remember toilets not flushing, transformers blowing out, drunk fans harassing EMTs, female sportswriters being sexually harassed, and a division rival fleecing the Patriots for two stars in return for six draft busts, the climb was worth every minute and every ounce of energy. Sometimes the greatest memories are not in the end result but in the journey. The end result is sweet, but the journey makes the end result even sweeter.
John Madden had it right at the end of Super Bowl XXI: "This is as good as it gets. There is no better feeling!" Patriot Nation would have to agree.
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