What does it take for a trip to Canton in the NFL? That was probably the question on everyone’s mind this Tuesday when Bill Belichick was asked to wait another year. While the New England Patriots legend hasn’t publicly responded to his Hall of Fame snub, sources close to him have revealed what his reaction was on learning the news.

“Six Super Bowls isn’t enough?” Belichick asked one of the associates after a call from a Hall representative last Friday afternoon. “What does a guy have to do?” he asked another associate.

Belichick stood alone among coaches as a finalist in the 2026 Hall of Fame Class. However, although legacy usually determines who deserves to be inducted, Belichick’s time in New England was the front page headline for many wrong reasons, too.

• The Spygate and the Deflategate controversies: It has been 19 years since the Spygate controversy, where Belichick publicly accepted that every NFL team tends to maintain records of their opponents’ signals in one form or the other.
  While the 2014 Deflategate controversy didn’t directly paint him as guilty, a quarterback being the center of such a conversation does put a head coach in a bad light. And since both cases happened while he was in New England, these factors apparently affected him all those years later.
• Tom Brady leaving the Patriots: When things got tense between his quarterback and his head coach, owner Robert Kraft chose to go with Belichick. However, Brady ended up winning another ring with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in his second year there. Meanwhile, the Patriots kept stumbling, eventually ending with a 4-13 record in 2013.
  That instance proved that while there may be some skillset from Belichick, the heavy lifting was done by Brady. And so, his coaching career got stained.
• Moreover, UNC’s 4-8 record with Belichick further proves that his good luck in the NFL wasn’t just his mind but also his quarterback. But while his NCAA coaching career doesn’t affect much, the recent times haven’t been the best between Belichick and the media.

All that said, Belichick’s snub hits hard. After all, during his NFL coaching career from 1975 to 2023, he had become a huge name in the league.

In his almost three decades in the NFL, he became the league’s all-time leader in Super Bowl titles. He had eight total: six as head coach of the Patriots, and two as coordinator in New York. His 31 wins were the most postseason wins as a head coach, along with the third-most 203 wins in the regular season. He also had the most division titles as a head coach (17) and the most conference championship wins as a head coach in the Super Bowl era (9).

Belichick also won three AP NFL Coach of the Year awards and set the standard that every other coach is measured against in the NFL. If all these are not enough, who can forget his legendary run at the helm of the Patriots alongside Brady when they had a dynastic run for two decades? While everyone is looking for answers, the HOF itself has stayed silent on the matter.

The HOF keeps quiet while everyone in the NFL raises their voice

The Hall’s 50-member selection committee voted on the Class of 2026 earlier this year. Belichick needed 40 votes to earn induction in his first year of eligibility. According to sources possessing direct knowledge of the vote, the former Patriots head coach came up short.

However, Belichick chose not to lash out over the incident. The Hall of Fame, on the other hand, also didn’t come up with an explanation.

According to the HOF, details of the voting procedure are kept confidential, and further updates on the new class will be officially announced on February 5 during NFL Honors in San Francisco. The reveal will be part of Super Bowl week activities.

Top Stories

U.S. Senator Announces Bad News For NFL Fans After Donald Trump’s Ruling on ESPN’s Billion-Dollar Takeover

Josh Allen’s Former Coach Breaks Silence on Buffalo Exit as Joe Brady Assembles Bills’ Staff

Mike McCarthy Receives Bad News as Aaron Rodgers’ Return to Steelers Faces Major Setback

Prayers Pour In as Cowboys Legend Scott Laidlaw Passes Away at 72

Cowboys’ Major QB Signing Confirmed Amid $31M Dak Prescott News

The result was a shock to many around the league. Belichick finished his coaching career with 333 wins, including the playoffs, the second-most in NFL history behind Don Shula. His extensive résumé and championships led people to assume he was a first-ballot lock.

It’s not the first time a high-profile candidate has been overlooked by the Hall of Fame.

Terrell Owens had to wait three years for his induction, despite retiring with the second-most receiving yards in NFL history, as well as the third-most receiving touchdowns. He also finished eighth on the all-time receptions list. Eventually, when the time came to recognize his achievements, Owens didn’t attend the Pro Football Hall of Fame induction ceremony.

The Hall’s voting group is made up mostly of veteran NFL reporters, along with a small number of former football executives and coaches, including Hall of Famers Bill Polian and Tony Dungy. The vote also carried added drama.

Belichick was a finalist alongside longtime New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft. It was the first time Kraft, 84, reached finalist status after years of lobbying by supporters. Kraft and Belichick have been on poor terms since their split in January 2024.

Amid the ongoing debate, one major question that the fans keep asking is: Why did the voters pass on what seemed like an obvious choice?

The reason for Bill Belichick’s Hall of Fame snub

Bill Belichick’s failure to earn a first-ballot induction stems from a larger controversy within the voting committee. The voters met for eight hours to debate this year’s finalists. According to multiple sources, the discussion around Belichick repeatedly returned to Spygate and Deflategate, the two cheating scandals that tarnished the New England Patriots’ dynasty years. Many voters told ESPN that those issues directly impacted the final decision.

One voter said Bill Polian, Belichick’s rival as a Colts GM back then, argued that he should wait a year as a form of accountability for Spygate. This was the 2007 incident that led to major fines and the loss of a first-round draft pick.

At the time, the league fined the Patriots $500,000 and fined Belichick $250,000, penalties approved by commissioner Roger Goodell. Then there was the Deflategate controversy that became apparent in the team’s 2014 AFC Championship against the Colts. Polian, though, has denied speaking any such thing against Belichick.

Another longtime Hall voter was more direct. “The only explanation was the cheating stuff,” he said. “It really bothered some of the guys.” While fan outrage grows over the snub, it still remains to be seen what names come forward during the final release.