made up of at least one media representative<\/a> from each football city and other at-large members \u2014 needed to gain entry.<\/p>\n![\"](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/GettyImages-463265278.jpg\")
Head coach Bill Belichick of the New England Patriots celebrates with the Vince Lombardi Trophy after defeating the Seattle Seahawks 28-24 to win Super Bowl XLIX at University of Phoenix Stadium on February 1, 2015 in Glendale, Arizona. Getty Images<\/p>\n
ESPN reported that the two major scandals Belichick was beleaguered by in New England \u2014 Spygate in 2007 and Deflategate in 2015 \u2014 were part of the discussions. Ex-Colts general manager Bill Polian, an at-large member of the voting committee, reportedly told some voters that Belichick should \u201cwait a year\u201d\u00a0before getting inducted. Polian denied he voted against Belichick to Sports Illustrated.<\/p>\n
Whatever the reason, Belichick \u2014 who also won two Super Bowls as a defensive coordinator with the Giants \u2014 will not be enshrined in 2026, and the football world was largely stunned.<\/p>\n
Jimmy Johnson, who is in the Pro Football and College Hall of Fames as a coach, was floored by the vote.<\/p>\n
\u201cI would like to know the names of the a\u2013holes who did not vote for him,\u201d he wrote on X, \u201cthey are too cowardly to identify themselves\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n
Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes was among the contingent of players in disbelief.<\/p>\n
\u201cInsane\u2026 don\u2019t even understand how this could be possible,\u201d Mahomes wrote on X.<\/p>\n
![\"Bill](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/GettyImages-1470444637.jpg\")
Bill Belichick during the trophy ceremony for Super Bowl 2017 at NRG Stadium in Houston, Texas. Getty Images<\/p>\n
Future Hall of Fame defensive end JJ Watt also expressed his dismay.<\/p>\n
\u201cI can\u2019t be reading this right,\u201d he posted. \u201cThis has to be some knock-off Hall of Fame or something, it can\u2019t be the actual NFL Hall of Fame. There is not a single world whatsoever in which Bill Belichick should not be a First-Ballot Hall of Famer.\u201d<\/p>\n
Eight-time Pro Bowl defensive end Cam Jordan expressed similar sentiments in a post on the social media platform.<\/p>\n
\u201cSometimes I scratch my head when a candidate gets in the HOF, this time I\u2019m scratching my head on how an HOF candidate didn get in\u2026\u201d Jordan wrote.<\/p>\n
One NFL executive sent a message to ESPN\u2019s Adam Schefter, expressing that the people who didn\u2019t vote for Belichick should be \u201cexposed.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe 10+ people that didn\u2019t vote for BB should be exposed,\u201d they wrote to the NFL insider. \u201cWTF. This is crazy.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ryan Clark, ESPN analyst and Super Bowl champ with the Steelers, called the decision \u201cegregious.\u201d <\/p>\n
\u201cBill Belichick not being a first ballot Hall of Famer means that no coach should ever be,\u201d he wrote. \u201cIt means that the voters have decided there isn\u2019t a coaching resume that warrants First Ballot consideration! He is the GREATEST, most ACCOMPLISHED coach of all time! This is egregious!\u201d<\/p>\n
Belichick, a three-time Coach of the Year, finished his career with a 302-165 regular season record with 31 more wins in the playoffs.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Bill Belichick won\u2019t have \u201cfirst ballot Hall of Famer\u201d on his resume. If you\u2019re shocked by this fact,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":711216,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3],"tags":[3851,7,249,56,6,1371,9],"class_list":{"0":"post-711215","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nfl","8":"tag-bill-belichick","9":"tag-football","10":"tag-new-england-patriots","11":"tag-new-york-giants","12":"tag-nfl","13":"tag-pro-football-hall-of-fame","14":"tag-sports"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115972183372757956","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/711215","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=711215"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/711215\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/711216"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=711215"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=711215"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=711215"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}