Former New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick failed to secure first-ballot induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame, and the news has stunned the NFL world. On January 27, it was revealed that despite leading the Patriots to six Super Bowl wins, Belichick did not receive the required 40 of 50 votes to enter the Hall of Fame with the Class of 2026. The snub quickly triggered outrage across the league, and Pro Football Hall of Famer Jimmy Johnson took to social media to voice his frustration with the voters. 

“This is just WRONG ..#2 winning ALL TIME…more Super Bowls than anyone unimaginable # of division championships…lot of small jealous voters,” Johnson wrote in his X posts. 

Jimmy Johnson continued his criticism with even stronger words, calling for accountability and transparency from the voters on behalf of Bill Belichick.

 “I would like to know the names of the a–holes who did not vote for him.. they are too cowardly to identify themselves,” Johnson added in another X post.

Bill Belichick stood alone among coaches as a finalist in the 2026 Hall of Fame Class. Other non-player finalists included Patriots owner Robert Kraft, who also needed at least 40 votes to get in. It remains unclear how Kraft fared in the voting. Still, the decision on Belichick feels like the real stunner. Has any coach in NFL history built a stronger résumé than Belichick?

Just look at some of the records that Bill Belichick has made during his NFL coaching career from 1975 to 2023:

• The NFL’s all-time leader in Super Bowl titles (8)
• Most postseason wins as a head coach (31)
• Most division titles as a head coach (17)
• Third-most regular-season wins as a head coach (302)
• Most conference championship wins as a head coach in the Super Bowl era (9)

Alongside former NFL quarterback Tom Brady, Belichick turned the Patriots into a dynasty for two decades. 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. And if that somehow isn’t enough, he also won two Super Bowls as the New York Giants’ defensive coordinator. So what went wrong with his HOF candidature?

According to ESPN’s report, Bill Belichick’s failure to get in on the first ballot came down to the Patriots’ cheating scandals, Spygate, and Deflategate, which happened under his watch. The report also claimed that former NFL executive Bill Polian told the Hall’s voting committee that Belichick should have to “wait a year” as a form of penance.

“The only explanation [for the outcome] was the cheating stuff,” a Hall voter told ESPN on January 27. “It really bothered some of the guys.”

Bill Polian later pushed back on ESPN’s report. He told Sports Illustrated’s Matt Verderame that he did vote for Belichick to be inducted. Polian also called any claim that he tried to influence voters against Belichick “totally and categorically untrue.”

Belichick hasn’t commented publicly on his HOF snub. But per ESPN, several people who spoke to Belichick over the weekend described him as “puzzled” and “disappointed” over the fact that he couldn’t get support from at least 80% of the committee. 

According to the same ESPN report, the 73-year-old even asked an associate, “Six Super Bowls isn’t enough?”

Bill Belichick’s five-word response said everything. After all, those six Lombardi Trophies define an era for the Patriots. And yet, Belichick reportedly walked away wondering what more anyone could possibly do to become a Hall of Famer. Nevertheless, Belichick’s snub left the NFL world reacting with shock and outrage. 

The NFL world reacts to Bill Belichick’s Hall of Fame snub

While Bill Belichick led the Patriots to 10 Super Bowl appearances, the franchise moved on from him following the 2023 season. But last year, he again took up a head coaching job, this time at North Carolina. Now, even after failing to secure first-ballot induction in the Hall of Fame, Belichick found plenty of support from across the NFL world.

“Insane… don’t even understand how this could be possible,” Kansas City Chiefs star QB Patrick Mahomes wrote in his X post while quoting the news of Belichick’s HOF snub.

“I can’t be reading this right,” former defensive end J.J. Watt wrote in an X post. “This has to be some knock-off Hall of Fame or something, it can’t 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.”

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“This isn’t real right?” ESPN analyst and former NFL QB Dan Orlovsky also wrote in his X post.

Mahomes, who lost to Belichick’s Patriots in the 2018 AFC Championship Game, clearly couldn’t believe how it was possible that the coach could not get 80% votes from the Hall’s committee. Watt’s reaction further summed up what many around the league were thinking: the voters ignored both logic and Belichick’s unmatched legacy. Even Orlovsky sounded completely stunned by the voters’ decision with Belichick.

The Hall’s voting committee mainly includes veteran NFL reporters, but there are also some notable figures from the NFL, such as Tony Dungy and Bill Polian. Indeed, Bill Belichick doesn’t need their approval to validate his coaching career. But if a Hall of Fame can’t recognize a résumé like Belichick’s on the first ballot, what exactly does it stand for?

“Bill Polian is a joke!!” Hall of Famer Terrell Owens wrote while quoting an X post that called the snub “shameful, pathetic & disgusting behavior.”

Owens aimed his frustration directly at Polian and the Hall’s committee. Meanwhile, former Dallas Cowboys star Dez Bryant also suggested that something more personal might be at play when it came to voting for Belichick.

“Whoever is holding the authority has got a personal problem with him… because there ain’t no way Coach Belichick is not a first ballot Hall of Famer…,” Bryant wrote in his X post.

Football analyst Pat McAfee also struggled to process the news but reminded everyone where Belichick stands in NFL history.

“Bill Belichick is officially not a first ballot Pro Football Hall Of Famer Bill Belichick.. Bill Belichick could be in 🐐 conversations for Coach AND GM and he isn’t a first ballot Hall Of Famer in the PRO FOOTBALL Hall Of Fame,” McAfee wrote in the caption of his X post.

Interestingly, Bill Belichick’s influence as a coach clearly has also not faded. Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel, who played eight seasons under Belichick and won three Super Bowls, now has New England back in the Super Bowl for the first time since 2019. So, Belichick may not have the gold jacket yet, but his legacy still looms over the entire league.