Pro Football Hall of Fame voters sent a message with their ridiculous 2026 ballots, but it’s probably not the one they intended.
On Tuesday, ESPN’s Don Van Natta Jr. and Seth Wickersham reported that former New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick, who won six Super Bowls as head coach of the Patriots and another two as a New York Giants assistant under Hall of Famer Bill Parcells, “fell short of the 40 out of 50 votes needed for induction.”
Van Natta and Wickersham reported one source close to Belichick as saying, “Politics kept him out. He doesn’t believe this is a reflection on his accomplishments.”
Shameful vote does more harm to HOF than Bill Belichick
The absurd vote raises one pertinent question: What good is the Pro Football Hall of Fame if it isn’t an accurate portrait of the NFL?
No world exists where Belichick, arguably the greatest coach in league history, isn’t a first-ballot gold jacket recipient. Voters were reportedly swayed by former Buffalo Bills and Indianapolis Colts general manager Bill Polian, a 2015 Hall of Fame inductee, who successfully argued Belichick deserved a punishment for New England’s “Spygate” scandal of the mid-2000s.
But that just shows how ridiculous the entire enterprise is. Belichick was already punished for the scandal with a $500,000 fine. And Hall of Fame coach Jimmy Johnson even once said during “Fox NFL Sunday,” “I tried it, but I didn’t think it helped us.
“Some of the coaches have selective amnesia because I know for a fact there were various teams doing this,” Johnson continued, via Bleacher Report.
The pearl-clutching by voters is even more disingenuous considering others with much more serious off-field issues had no problem receiving enough votes on the first-ballot.
Former Baltimore Ravens linebacker Ray Lewis, for example, was charged with murder and aggravated assault in 2000 following the deaths of two Atlanta men at a Super Bowl party, only to have those dropped for an obstruction of justice charge as part of a plea agreement. He was enshrined in 2018 in his first year of eligibility.
The decision to snub Belichick feels more vindictive and personal than being based on morality or the sanctity of the sport. Belichick was never one to make friends in the media, often giving reporters boilerplate responses and failing to divulge much of anything. It’s fair to wonder if he was friendlier in those moments would the voting be different.
That’s a silly thing to have to consider, but it’s worth examining based on the Hall of Fame vote. Getting enshrined in Canton should be a merit-based honor, not measured on how many soundbites or media friends one makes along the way.
The Hall’s reputation took a major hit with voters prioritizing their personal feelings over Belichick’s on-field accomplishments.
But it’s their loss.
Belichick still has his rings, while the Hall of Fame is missing the most accomplished coach of the Super Bowl era. And when he inevitably gets his gold jacket, it won’t erase the first-ballot oversight. The snub is an irreversible stain.
That’s the biggest shame of all.