We are now officially in Week 9 of the "Rob Gronkowski Retirement Watch" and after just over two months, there's still been no word from Gronk on whether or not he's going to play in 2018.  

Apparently, one of the reasons that Gronk has been so indecisive about his future is because there's some friction between him and Patriots coach Bill Belichick. According to ESPN.com, by the time the 2017 season ended, Gronk was mentally worn down by "The Patriot Way," which is one reason why he started contemplating retirement in the first place. 

If Gronk is frustrated with Belichick, he might just want to get in line, because he's definitely not the first player in Patriots history who's had to deal with the tough love that comes with playing for Belichick. 

As a matter of fact, during a recent interview with ESPN, former Patriots linebacker Tedy Bruschi described one of those situations that can make Belichick so difficult to play for. Bruschi's tale, which also involves Junior Seau, comes from the 2007 season, when the Patriots became the first team in NFL history to finish a year 16-0. Even then, Belichick was frustrating his players. 

"I was in the locker room after one game. It was a meeting room. It was me and Junior Seau and we had just beaten Baltimore," Seau said. "We won the game, Bill comes in -- We're 12-0 -- Bill comes in after the game and puts on this play, 'Hey Bruschi, hey Seau, how many years of experience do you both have? Fifty? In the National Football League? Look at this read.' And he rewinds the play over and over and over again."

Despite the fact the Patriots won to push their record to 12-0, Belichick still decided to call out Bruschi and Seau in front of the team for two very minor mistakes. 

"All we did was take a wrong step, a wrong step to our left, and the read was to our right," Bruschi said. "Have we made that read a bunch of times? Yes, but we took a little false step this way and all we were on film going like this the entire way, getting called out in front of the entire team."

At that point, Bruschi was in the middle of his eighth season playing under Belichick and he had learned not to take things personally. 

"Me and Junior looked at each other and we sort of laughed at it," Bruschi said. "Because at that point in your career, you know what the old man's trying to do and I think that's what a lot of players in this locker room need to understand."

Basically, Bruschi's saying that players in the Patriots locker room shouldn't get frustrated with Belichick because he's simply doing everything he can to get the best out of each player. Back in 2016, Chad Johnson shared a similar story, except in that story, Belichick berated Tom Brady in front of the team. 

The good news for the Patriots is that Gronk is reportedly 'pretty certain' he's going to return, which might mean he's now more understanding of the method to Belichick's madness, even if he doesn't love it. 

(Wink of the CBS Eye to Patriots Wire)