Imagine winning 17 AFC East division titles and 6 Super Bowl titles as a head coach and still not being in the Hall of Fame. That's Bill Belichick for you.

The former Patriots Head Coach fell short of the 40 out of 50 votes needed for induction to the Pro Football Hall of Fame during his first year of eligibility. The fans are fuming, and so are stars like Patrick Mahomes and LeBron James.

“Man there’s no way I read that right! Right? Ain’t no WAY Bill Belichick ain’t 1st Ballot HOF!! That’s IMPOSSIBLE, EGREGIOUS, and quite frankly DISRESPECTFUL!” the NBA star raged out on X. The 41-year-old and the legendary head coach have been seen together before.

In 2019, the two had a friendly interaction after an NBA game, after the then-Patriots head coach approached the NBA legend. LeBron has also expressed his admiration for Belichick’s success in the past and also saluted him once he left the Patriots.

Patrick Mahomes was also enraged over the news.

"Insane… don’t even understand how this could be possible," he wrote on X. The Chiefs' QB has once called Belichick the greatest coach of all time.

Hall of Famer Deion Sanders also spoke out.

Dieon Sanders and Fans Rally Behind LeBron James, Patrick Mahomes in Supporting Bill Belichick

Both Belichick and Deion Sanders are currently head coaches in NCAA Division I football. Sanders only has high praise for Belichick when the latter joined the University of North Carolina as their new head coach. He knows that Belichick is a HOF coach.

"The Disrespect to Coach Belichick is straight out IGNORANT! He’s arguably the BEST NFL COACH TO EVER COACH THE GAME! How quickly we forget the impact Coach Belichick made on all of us!@nfl WOW! #CoachPrime," he posted on X. Fans carry the same emotion.

"I did not think it was possible for virtually everyone worth their football salt on X to be in agreement, but here we are," a fan said, and it couldn't be truer. Be it whatever franchise they support, any fan who is familiar with Bill Belichick's achievements is angry and frustrated at him not in the HOF.

A user also commented, "The idea of a six-time Super Bowl-winning head coach being snubbed from the first ballot is a total logic-defier that turns 'Hall of Fame' into a complete oxymoron." Belichick also has the most playoff wins by a head coach in NFL history with a 31-13 record.

Another comment said, "Yeah man, that is definitely disrespectful! 100% I'm hearing that Bill Polian is the one behind it. He feels that Belichick should have to wait one year because of Spygate and deflategate."An ESPN report said Polian spoke up, and some voters cited Spygate when debating Belichick’s candidacy.

Taking that into consdeiration a fan addressed, "6 rings as a head coach and they’re holding Spygate against him 20 years later? The Hall of Fame just became the Hall of Grudges. Absolute disgrace. Belichick IS the greatest coach ever."

Bill Belichick has 302 wins and 165 losses as head coach. This makes him third all-time in regular-season wins behind Don Shula and George Halas. And it might be interesting to note that both of them are Pro Football Hall of Fame inductees in 1997, and in 1963, respectively.

Let us know what you think about all of this.

Written by

Reyansh Dubey

Edited by

Joyita Das