Everything on a plane has a prescribed maintenance and inspection interval. They're not letting them "shred themselves to death", a tire blow out at the wrong time (when dealing with another emergency, or from leaving shrapnel on the runway, etc) could kill a plane full of people.

Went to a museum that had historical army planes and a man there told me the tires on planes had to be changed after 100 flights from the wear and tear of landing. Not sure how much that’s changed from the early jets he was talking about, but certainly not an aspect of flight that I’d considered.

Once again, way to go Boeing.

No. One tire blew on takeoff and they landed at the destination without issue.

The 737 has 4 wheels on the main gear, 2 on the front. The loss of a single tire does not make the plane unsafe to land.

Tire blowouts are included in the takeoff brief. They plan for the possibility, aborting the takeoff if it happens below a certain speed, continuing as normal if it happens above it.

This is a calculated risk, as its something that happens from time to time with no real danger to the aircraft.

I listen to air traffic control animated incidents on and off on yt, so take it with a grain of salt. But wheels falling off during flight, while I wouldn't say it is common, it is not exactly unheard of as well. Pilots and ground crews are well equipped to handle such incidents.