Bill Belichick was snubbed. Colin Cowherd understands it.
Belichick coached the New England Patriots to six Super Bowl victories and won two more as the defensive coordinator of the New York Giants. It was reported on Tuesday that he failed to secure the required number of votes to be a first-ballot inductee into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility. While many disagree with the voters‘ decision, Cowherd sees the other side of things.
“If you have several asterisks by your name, is it OK to pause for a year?” Cowherd posed.
Cowherd’s opposition to Belichick’s induction stems from three separate counterarguments, or asterisks, as he put it.
The most glaring reason is that the coach struggled to win without the greatest quarterback of all time, Tom Brady. All six of Belichick’s rings as the Patriots’ head coach came with Brady under center. Take a look at the years when Brady wasn’t in New England, and Belichick’s record is not pretty.
“If you take out one superstar quarterback in Belichick’s career,” Cowherd said. “He has a winning percentage lower than Jerry Glanville (a head coach in Houston and Atlanta from 1985-93), and equal to Anthony Lynn (the Chargers head coach from 2017-2020). With (Tom) Brady, his teams scored almost 29 points per game, and he won 77% of his games. Without Brady, they scored 19 points, and he wins 44%. And not only that, he was fired in Cleveland without him. He was about to get fired before Drew Bledsoe got hurt. And then the minute Brady left, he put a defensive coordinator in at OC.”
“Mike Vrabel (the current New England head coach) is getting to a Super Bowl with Drake Maye, who’s not even a finished project,” Cowherd added. “Mike Vrabel got a No. 1 seed with Ryan Tannehill (during his time with the Titans), the 17th-best quarterback in the league. Brady leaves, and they can’t score, they don’t get offense. They’re the worst drafting team in the league.”
[Related: Bill Belichick’s Snub Result of Flawed Hall Voting Process, Voter Explains]
It’s a compelling argument, but is it fair to fault Belichick because he coached Brady? Their connection and the mountaintops they reached together are part of the equation.
Now, Cowherd believes Belichick will, ultimately, be inducted into the Hall of Fame. It’s a matter of time. He just may have to wait — as many of his peers did.
“The winningest coach of all time, Don Shula, got to a Super Bowl with Dan Marino, David Woodley and Earl Morrall. He had to wait five years until he was even eligible for the Hall of Fame,” Belichick said. “Is it possible the voters went, ‘Timeout, the classiest guy ever, the winningest guy ever, the guy Belichick’s been chasing forever — Don Shula — had to wait five years to even be eligible, and now because of a weird tweak, I got to put Belichick in?'”
For context, the Pro Football Hall of Fame reduced the mandatory waiting period for coaching candidates from five years to one year in August 2024. This rule change is the very thing that allowed Belichick to become eligible for induction in the class of 2026.
“Bill Parcells, his mentor,” Cowherd said. “He had to wait forever.”
Cowherd thinks it’s reasonable that Belichick should have to wait like his elders did, regardless of some newfangled rule.
His final point is the elephant in the room.
“What is the one week of the year that the league values the most? Super Bowl week. And in 2007, it was tarnished because of Belichick — footage of him taping another team. And Roger Goodell had to go to the Super Bowl, and all week long, had to address Belichick’s cheating,” Cowherd said.
[Related: What If … the Patriots Had Never Fired Bill Belichick?]
Ultimately, the NFL fined Belichick $500,000, the largest financial punishment imposed on a coach in league history. There’s a chance this snubbing is an extension of that punishment 19 years later.
“There is a tax to pay if, the most valuable week of the year, you blew it up once, because you were taping another team,” Cowherd said.
There’s no clear reason why Belichick didn’t earn a first ballot Hall of Fame nod in his first year of eligibility, but Cowherd believes the voting outcome was justified.
“In review,” he said, “Don Shula had to wait five years. Bill Parcells, your mentor, had to wait forever. Your winning percentage is 44% without (Tom) Brady, and you blew up a Super Bowl week.”
