Bill Parcells seems to run in four-year cycles. In his fourth consecutive year coaching the same team, he always ends up in the Super Bowl. (You must know where this is going.) In his fourth year with the Giants (1986), he coached the team to a championship win. Four years later, with that same team, he captured another Lombardi Trophy. In his fourth season with the Patriots, he was coaching in the big game again (this time he lost).

Then he coached the Jets for three years and “retired.� (What would have happened in that fourth year?) In 2003, he returned to the NFL as the head coach of the Dallas Cowboys. In the past three seasons, he’s slowly assembled a team that includes QB Drew Bledsoe, RBs Julius Jones and Marion Barber and now dynamic receiver Terrell Owens.

It’s year four and Parcells has amassed a group of young players and vets who look ready to rock and roll towards the Super Bowl. Is this Parcells’ year? According to the “Rule of Four,� it should be, but there are a few other teams and coaches, including the Redskins and Joe Gibbs—who will be tough in their division—that will have something to say about that. The sportsbooks are looking on the team favorably, with many picking Dallas to win their division or place second. Super Bowl win? They’re given as good a chance as the Steelers, Seahawks and Panthers by most handicappers. That’s not bad company. Will the Big Tuna be reeling in his third Lombardi Trophy in his fourth visit? It’s the Rule of Four.

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