Opinions, insults, and excuses have been flying like the Wright Brothers since ESPN’s Don Van Natta Jr. and Seth Wickersham reported that Bill Belichick failed to receive 40 of the 50 necessary votes for induction as a first-ballot Pro Football Hall of Famer. While some media personalities have cited possible reasons for the six-time Super Bowl champion head coach’s snub, a shared viewpoint generally persists: the omission was complete garbage.
It does not take a fully functioning cerebellum to agree. Belichick earned those six rings guiding the Patriots, but he also won two more titles as a defensive coordinator extraordinaire for the New York Giants. His 333 total regular season and playoff wins are second only to Don Shula, who, by the way, won just two Lombardi Trophies.
In my view, the 50-person coach/contributor/senior voting panel favored cannabis over Canton by failing to induct Belichick unanimously. Yesterday, the Get Up panelists aired their views, ranging from host Mike Greenberg to Jeff Saturday—the former Colts’ center who engaged in many heated rivalries against Belichick’s Patriots—as well as Domonique Foxworth and Kimberley Martin. All of them blitzed the vote as ridiculous.
Greenberg, while making it clear that Belichick deserved first-ballot status, offered several rationales for why voters passed on the perceived GOAT of NFL head coaches this year. These included Belichick’s terse and icy relationship with the media, the Spygate and Deflategate controversies, and the possibility of Belichick returning to the NFL as a head coach in the near future.
None of these excuses compare to Belichick’s credentials. To paraphrase Foxworth, if a guy wins six Super Bowls, you should vote him into the Hall of Fame.
In addition to the league titles, Belichick’s Patriots claimed more division and conference titles than the Cromarties had kids. The franchise dominated the NFL for two decades. Belichick filled out a championship-caliber roster year in and year out, even while losing players to free agency and assistant coaches to other clubs looking to duplicate his success.
Some media commentators will claim QB Tom Brady was the main reason for the greatest dynasty in NFL history—except, of course, Brady himself.
The current FOX game analyst expressed candid disgust toward the voting committee. Brady stated, “If he’s (Belichick) not a first-ballot Hall of Famer, there’s really no coach that should ever be a first-ballot Hall of Famer … There’s no coach I’d rather play for. If I’m picking one coach to go out there to win a Super Bowl, give me one season, I’m taking Bill Belichick.”
There were five finalists in the coach/contributor/senior category, of which the committee could choose three. The remaining candidates include Patriots owner Robert Kraft, who, like Brady, expressed dismay at the Belichick news, as well as DE L.C. Greenwood, QB Ken Anderson, and RB Roger Craig.
Inductees will be announced on February 5, 2026.
Outside of Kraft, none of these candidates possess Belichick’s resume. However, let’s be honest: this is not about what Belichick did; it is about what he did not do—namely, kiss the collective behinds of players, media, or his opponents.
Case in point, Belichick was the biggest fan of legendary wide receiver and current ESPN gabber Randy Moss. He specifically targeted Moss to come to New England for the 2007 season, and Moss helped the team to a 16-0 regular season and numerous offensive records.
Three years later, Belichick had a decision to make. Following the 2010 trade sending Moss to the Vikings, Belichick stated, “Over the course of the past several months, I have spoken with Randy and his representative about Randy’s place on our team and his future in football. It has been honest, thoughtful and with great mutual respect.”
Belichick said he would keep every detail of the internal conversations with players and staff, he added “these are complex and often difficult decisions, but it is my responsibility to make them based on what I feel is best for our football team, in both the short term and long term.”
Some will call this type of chatter cold or uncaring, but like many of Belichick’s quotes over the years, I found his words enlightening and refreshing. Football is a game, but the NFL is a business. The leader of any organization must think about more than just the individual player involved.
I am sure Bill Belichick would have loved to give a fat contract extension to Moss and many other favorite players, but he had to make tough calls regarding the bottom line as well as the sideline.
This was not Fantasy Football where he could create a whimsical dream team. If it were, Moss, Brady, Lawyer Milloy, Drew Bledsoe, Willie McGinest, Ty Law, Richard Seymour, current Pats’ head coach Jerod Mayo, and many others would have had lifetime lockers at Gillette Stadium.
Two very disturbing parts of the Van Natta Jr. and Wickersham report are closely related.
First, sources said the Patriots’ Spygate and Deflategate controversies played a role in the decision. Second, former Colts’ GM Bill Polian reportedly told fellow voters that because of the perceived cheating, Belichick should wait a year for induction.
According to the ESPN story, Polian denied the allegation and shockingly claimed he didn’t remember if he voted for Belichick or not. Really? Just know that cheating comes in many forms—for example, piping artificial crowd noise into a domed stadium to give a defense an advantage or tanking the 2011 season to get a shot at Andrew Luck.
Bill Polian may not remember those things either.
Let’s just ignore the committee members who did not cast a vote for Bill Belichick. “Ignore” is the right word, as it is etymologically related to “ignorant.” Instead, we should mention the names of those who felt shocked and outraged at the snub: Hall of Famer Deion Sanders, CBS analyst J.J. Watt, Chiefs’ QB Patrick Mahomes, and FOX analyst Jimmy Johnson, all of whom expressed dismay on social media.
Johnson’s viewpoint did not just arise with this recent foolish vote. In 2007, when asked what made the Patriots special, he responded, “The reason they are the best is because Bill Belichick is an outstanding coach. He coaches new players, young players, rookies, free agents and then on top of that, he coaches his coaches. He lost Charlie Weis, he lost Romeo Crennel, Eric Mangini. What does he do? He grooms young coaches to take their place.”
That same year, Johnson’s FOX colleague and fellow Hall of Famer Howie Long discussed stopping the powerful Patriots’ offense. His answer? “I think the only person that can stop New England’s offense is the guy whose game plan stopped the ‘Greatest Show on Turf’ in Super Bowl XXXVI and also the guy whose game plan sits in Canton, Ohio for stopping the Buffalo Bills in Super Bowl XXV. That would be Bill Belichick. If this team goes on and wins another championship, I think you have to mention Belichick and Tom Brady in the conversation for best ever at what they do.”
That comment preceded not one, but three more New England championships with Belichick at the helm. But who’s counting, right?
Apparently, only a few reporters and opponents whose feelings were hurt by the most successful coach in NFL history. It’s sad that their sensitivity decides immortality.
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John Molori is a weekly columnist for Barrett Sports Media. He has previously contributed to ESPNW, Patriots Football Weekly, Golf Content Network, Methuen Life Magazine, and wrote a syndicated Media Blitz column in the New England region, which was published by numerous outlets including The Boston Metro, Providence Journal, Lowell Sun, and the Eagle-Tribune. His career also includes fourteen years in television as a News and Sports Reporter, Host, Producer working for Continental Cablevision, MediaOne, and AT&T. He can be reached on Twitter @MoloriMedia.
