The Indianapolis Colts got the good news on Thursday. Kicker Adam Vinatieri was elected for induction into the Pro Football Hall of Fame. The leading all-time scorer in Colts history deserves the honor. So does former New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick.
The difference is that Belichick was wrongfully not voted into the Hall by a group of 50 voters. He needed to get 40 votes for induction, and the fact that he didn't diminishes what the Hall is all about. To make matters worse for Indy's concerns, the team has a couple of former members of the organization who are on the voting committee.
To be sure, the voting process has zero transparency. Who a person votes for will never be known unless they say who they voted for. In the case of former Colts general manager Bill Polian, he either did or might not have voted for Belichick, depending on which day a person asks Polian. That implies he didn't think the former Patriots coach should be inducted in his first year of eligibility.
Tony Dungy's non-answer when it comes to Bill Belichick makes the Indianapolis Colts look worse
The same might be true of former Indianapolis head coach Tony Dungy. Speaking with reporters during media week ahead of Super Bowl LX, Dungy said when asked if he voted for Belichick, "I am not going to make a comment on it, so we’ll find out who’s in and who’s out."
Dungy is a smart enough guy to know people are going to hear that and assume he didn't vote for Bill Belichick. He could have said something along the lines of, "I am not going to say who I did or didn't vote for, but I think Bill Belichick deserves to be in the Pro Football Hall of Fame." But he didn't.
The current narrative, whether right or wrong, is that Bill Polian didn't want Belichick to be happy in Year One of potential induction. It is quite likely that the same narrative will hold for Tony Dungy.
The former Indianapolis Colts head coach is a very good human being. One wouldn't want to think he held a grudge against his longtime nemesis, who worked for the New England Patriots. Maybe he didn't, but it certainly looks like he did.
Ultimately, the fiasco surrounding Belichick, who did break the rules at times but was simply far too successful for far too long not to be enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, is making the Colts organization look bad. While Dungy went 5-5 against Belichick, the Patriots won more Super Bowls than Dungy's Colts. At this point, the Indy franchise is losing again when it comes to Belichick.