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Archives for January 27, 2026

To HELL with the HALL

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CANTON – If everyone in the NFL-loving world thought it was going to be, “It’s on to Canton,” they’re wrong. No Pro Football Hall of Fame for former New England Patriots and current University of North Carolina coach Bill Belichick. The Halls of Canton await as it was announced Tuesday that Belichick will not make the Pro Football Hall of Fame in his first year on the ballot, multiple media outlets reported Tuesday.

The stunning news comes a week before the Class of 2026 inductees are announced during the “NFL Honors” broadcast on Feb. 5.

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Belichick’s six Super Bowl victories as a head coach are the most in NFL history. He went 266-121 (.687) in his 24 seasons leading the New England Patriots, with an undefeated regular season in 2007. He also won two Super Bowls as defensive coordinator of the New York Giants.

Per ESPN, Belichick was informed Friday that he did not reach the threshold of 40 out of 50 votes from the Hall of Fame’s selection committee.

Earlier in the process, the hall’s Coach Blue-Ribbon Committee chose Belichick as its sole coach finalist for consideration by the full selection committee. Other coaches on that list included Tom Coughlin, Mike Holmgren, Marty Schottenheimer and Mike Shanahan.

A different committee selected Patriots owner Robert Kraft as the finalist from the contributor category.

According to an ESPN report, selection committee member and former Indianapolis Colts general manager Bill Polian told some voters he believed Belichick should “wait a year” before induction as a form of reparation for the Spygate and Deflategate scandals during the Belichick-Tom Brady dynasty years.

Belichick, Polian and the Hall of Fame did not provide comment.

Belichick was a three-time NFL Coach of the Year and named to the NFL 100th Anniversary All-Time Team in 2019. With 302 wins as head coach of the Cleveland Browns (1991-95) and Patriots, he ranks third in league history behind Don Shula and George Halas.

The Patriots went 29-38 in Belichick’s last four years in New England once Brady left for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, where he won one Super Bowl without Belichick. More recently, Belichick became a college coach for the first time at North Carolina, but his first season was a disastrous 4-8 affair.

–Field Level Media

No Super Handbook for Macdonald

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SEATTLE – (Wire Service Report) – The Seattle Seahawks are heading to their fourth Super Bowl since 2006, but neither Mike Holmgren nor Pete Carroll are walking through that door, and, certainly, Rick Pitino “ain’t walking through that door.”

Instead, the job of preparing his team for Super Bowl LX falls to 38-year-old Mike Macdonald in just his second season as a head coach at any level.

Asked Monday what he expects the biggest challenge of the next two weeks to be, Macdonald replied, “It’s easy to say ‘process,’ but the days are gonna look a little bit different. So it’s really the intent behind what we’re trying to do every day. Just staying focused on the things that we can control, because there is so much extra. That comes with the territory. It’s exciting. It’s an opportunity to kind of get it right.”

Macdonald’s Seahawks held off the Los Angeles Rams 31-27 in an instant classic NFC Championship Game on Sunday to advance to the Super Bowl against the New England Patriots on Feb. 8 in Santa Clara, Calif.

Much of Macdonald’s day-after press conference focused on what comes next. He said the players will have off Tuesday and Wednesday, but they were in the building Monday to discuss logistical things related to the Super Bowl week schedule.

A longtime assistant coach and defensive coordinator for the Baltimore Ravens, Macdonald said he would soon reach out to his old boss, John Harbaugh, for advice about what’s on the horizon. Macdonald joined Baltimore in 2014, which came after the franchise’s only Super Bowl trip under Harbaugh.

Macdonald also joked that he’s watched about five plays’ worth of New England Patriots tape. There will be ample time for game-planning in the days to come, but Macdonald insisted nothing fundamental should change about the Seahawks’ approach.

“I think one of the differences about how we’ve ran our program this year and the last few years is we don’t have a, ‘Hey, this is the Super Bowl handbook. This is how you handle all the things.’ Our mentality is, ‘Hey, look, we’re all in this together going into this experience and this is how we want to take it day by day and kind of get through all these hurdles, so to speak.’ Those guys will be right along there for the ride and leading the charge.”

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The Seahawks do have one player who knows how to negotiate Super Bowl week and come out a champion on the other side.

When the Rams beat the Cincinnati Bengals in Super Bowl LVI, wide receiver Cooper Kupp was voted Most Valuable Player after catching eight passes for 92 yards and scoring two touchdowns. Kupp, 32, shared what he would tell his teammates about handling the distractions and extracurriculars of Super Bowl week.

“You take care of it and then you get ready to play football,” he said. “You’re inserting it into part of your day, but you know that around that stuff, you still gotta go out there and be present, be where your feet are. When it’s time to do the media thing, do the media thing, handle your business, protect the team, then you’re gonna move into football stuff and be where your feet are in that regard.”

Kupp acknowledged “it was cool” for him to beat his former team in the penultimate game of the playoffs. Earlier in the day, a column in The Athletic reported that members of Kupp’s camp believed the Rams badmouthed him in league circles after unceremoniously cutting him after the 2024 season — warning against signing the oft-injured former Offensive Player of the Year for more than the veteran minimum.

The rival Seahawks didn’t listen, inking Kupp, a Washington native, to a three-year contract in March worth $45 million.

“For the story to be what it was, that it had to be through the Rams to be able to get to where we wanted to go, in the NFC championship in that moment, the script writers did a great job with that one.”

–Field Level Media