Football has finally done to Bill Belichick what the former New England Patriots coach did to so many others for decades: offered a cold, clinical rejection. In achieving this, Belichick also turned New England into a sustained powerhouse in the salary-cap era. Brady and Belichick, by contrast, came across as technocrats fit for the 21st century who maximized efficiencies across the organization. In this context, the Hall snub is a fitting—if unjustified—rebuke. Maybe the Hall of Fame isn’t a hall of great success as a leader, but about some kind of vague concept of “greatness” itself.