Patriots coach Bill Belichick just turned 67, and there is no indication he’s interested in stopping anytime soon.
But if you look at his peer group (the best coaches in NFL history), you also realize he’s already an outlier, in terms of how long he’s done it.
As noted by Peter King of NBC’s Football Morning in America, of the top 15 coaches on the all-time win list, only three have coached beyond their 67th birthday. Belichick, Lord willing, will make that four this year.
The others who have continued past that age include George Halas (six years), Tom Coughlin (three), and Paul Brown (one).
While he may not be motivated by records, he is getting to the point where you reasonably wonder if he’s going to hang on long enough to break it. Don Shula currently tops the list with 347 (regular season and postseason), followed by Halas (324), and Belichick (292).
It would reasonably take five more seasons for Belichick to pass Shula for the top spot, which would put him at 72 — the same age at which Halas coached his last game. Since he has a quarterback who keeps denying Father Time also, it might be wrong to dismiss the idea.