Is former New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick worthy of being in the Pro Football Hall of Fame? Of course. He won six Super Bowls. But he won't be getting in during his first eligible year of induction, and he seems to have a former Indianapolis Colts executive for that.
Belichick is one of the greatest coaches ever. Is he the best? Maybe, and probably. How successful would he have been without Tom Brady (who won another Super Bowl after leaving the Patriots when he was with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers) is anyone's guess. Based on his final years with the team, not as successful.
But he still belongs in the Hall of Fame, yet he fell short of getting the 40 out of 50 votes needed to move forward in the process of induction. One of his biggest detractors appears to have been former Indy general manager Bill Polian. Polian, it appears, felt that Belichick needed to wait a year for punishment for the Deflategate Scandal, among other things.
Former Indianapolis Colts GM Bill Polian somehow just made former Patriots coach Bill Belichick look like a sympathetic character
There could also be a little issue of the Colts' biggest rival for many years during the Peyton Manning era was Belichick and his gang from New England. The Pats kept winning Super Bowls, and the Colts kept getting close, but only won one.
According to ESPN's Don Van Natta Jr. and Seth Wickersham, "A voter who spoke on condition of anonymity said that Polian, an ardent Kraft supporter and former general manager of the Buffalo Bills and Indianapolis Colts-- a chief Patriots rival during their dynasty -- told some voters he believed Belichick should "wait a year" before induction as penance for Spygate, the 2007 cheating scandal that cost the team a first-round draft pick."
This is lots of parts silly. Bill Belichick, love him or strongly dislike him, succeeded at a high enough level to be in the Hall of Fame. Making him wait a year only makes the voting process and the Hall itself look ridiculous. A person either deserves to get inducted or they don't. Belichick does.
It would also be rather meaningless for Polian and his cronies to try to make a statement for one year, knowing that Belichick will eventually be inducted. Years from now, football fans will simply know that the former Patriots head coach is in the Hall of Fame.
Those fans wouldn't have cared so much about how long it took him to be inducted. It is now only news because of his seemingly forced wait. When history looks back on the induction issue, only the Colts and Bill Polian will look bad, not the New England Patriots and Bill Belichick.
Ironically, by trying to make Belichick look bad, the Colts have helped the Patriots look better. That is the exact opposite of the way things should have gone.