For the past week, the NFL world has been buzzing about one thing, and it’s not the Super Bowl—it’s Bill Belichick’s snub from the Pro Football Hall of Fame induction on the first ballot. The decision may seem justified to the voters (at least those who didn’t vote for him), but the NFL community is outraged. Yet, Belichick remained silent until now.

“Breaking news (sort of): I have the first official comment from Bill Belichick after getting snubbed by the [Pro Football HOF] selection committee for the class of 2026,” HOF voter Gary Myers reported on X. “‘I will not be making any public comments until at least after this year’s class is announced,’ he told me.”

While this may be his first official statement since the snub, the six-time Super Bowl-winning head coach’s original reaction was much more blunt. 

“Six Super Bowls isn’t enough?” said Bill Belichick. “What does a guy have to do?”

Theoretically, Belichick isn’t wrong. He isn’t just a great coach; he is arguably the greatest to ever do it. His resume includes six Super Bowl titles, 333 career wins (second all-time, behind Don Shula), 17 division titles, and nine conference championships. 

That’s particularly why the NFL community, even players who were not coached by him, were furious. One of them was Patrick Mahomes, who took to social media to express his disbelief. 

“Insane… don’t even understand how this could be possible,” he tweeted this on X. 

Former NFL player and analyst Geoff Schwartz took a step further, calling the move an “unforced error” for the Hall of Fame’s reputation. Despite being Belichick’s harshest critic, he considered the first-ballot snub embarrassing for the voters. 

The decision rested with a 50-person selection committee of media members from across the country. For Belichick’s induction, he needed at least 80% approval (40 votes precisely). 

In light of the backlash, the Hall of Fame also released a statement. They hinted that if any voters violated the committee’s bylaws (likely referring to leaking private deliberations), they could be removed from the committee entirely.

However, for many of the dissenting voters, the issue was the scandals. Sources told ESPN that Spygate and Deflategate were major talking points during the private deliberations. One voter even admitted that the controversies “really bothered some of the guys.” They believed Belichick should be forced to wait a year as a form of character penalty, which was proposed by Bill Polian, who still voted for the coach. 

Why Bill Belichick missed the cut

The Patriots’ former head coach was part of a specific group of nominees from the “blue-ribbon” category. Patriots owner Robert Kraft and three senior players, Ken Anderson, Roger Craig, and L.C. Greenwood, were also a part of this group, besides Belichick. The HOF voters could only vote for three of these five names for induction. 

There’s a theory going around on the internet that suggests that some voters (among those 11) simply assumed Belichick’s induction was a lock. So they used their votes for other nominees, such as Craig, who’s been waiting for decades. 

So far, only two voters have publicly confirmed they voted against Belichick: Vahe Gregorian of KC Star and Mike Chappell of FOX 59/CBS 4. Gregorian explained that his choice wasn’t necessarily a vote “against” Belichick, but rather a vote “for” several senior players whose time is running out. 

Or, as Gregorian explained, the senior players’ induction was more important than coaches, or at least more time-sensitive. Craig might not have gotten another chance soon; that’s why he was inducted. Whereas Belichick will certainly be on the ballot next year and the year after. 

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These two seem more reasonable compared to the theory that those cheating scandals robbed Belichick of the induction. As the league had investigated both controversies, the head coach and the Patriots were punished as they felt justified.