The Kansas City Chiefs are a very good football team. You know this.
The Kansas City Chiefs are looking for their third straight Super Bowl win. I imagine you were aware of this as well. And we now know that the path to the Chiefs’ three-peat goes through the Philadelphia Eagles after they dismantled the Washington Chiefs 55-23 in the NFC Championship game on Sunday.
For almost a full year now, if it wasn’t obvious, we’ve been anticipating the Chiefs to make a run at history (as if they haven’t done enough already). Kansas City has had a unique season thus far in that they have been as inescapable as ever while looking weaker than any previous version of themselves, a strange combination of the nature of course they have carried for over half a decade now.
Although it didn’t look consistently dominant in 2024, Kansas City finished the season 14-2 and held on to the top seed in the AFC and a Wild Card bye. Their 23-14 home win sent them to the AFC Championship Game against the Bills The Chiefs competed in a thriller against the Bills in the AFC Championship Game, reaching the Super Bowl with a 32-29 win.
From a realistic perspective, the Chiefs have won the last two Super Bowls, won Super Bowl LIV in Miami three years before their first straight win in 2023, and have played in four of the last five.
- Super Bowl LIV, 2020: Kansas City Chiefs beat San Francisco 49ers
- Super Bowl LV, 2021: Kansas City Chiefs lose to Tampa Bay Buccaneers
- Super Bowl LVI, 2022: Kansas City Chiefs not present
- Super Bowl LVII, 2023: Kansas City Chiefs beat Philadelphia Eagles
- Super Bowl LVIII 2024: Kansas City Chiefs beat San Francisco 49ers
It’s a crazy march they’re on and it’s historic, as noted. Although they accomplished a lot, one thing they did not do was win three Super Bowls respectively.
The thing about that is…no one did that.
Throughout NFL history there have been eight other teams that were searching for a third straight title.
- 1968 Green Bay Packers: Missing Playoffs
- 1974 Miami Dolphins: Lost in the divisional round
- 1976 Pittsburgh Steelers: Lost AFC Championship Game
- 1980 Pittsburgh Steelers: Missing Playoffs
- 1990 San Francisco 49ers: Lost NFC Championship Game
- 1994 Dallas Cowboys: Lost NFC Championship Game
- 1999 Denver Broncos: Missing Playoffs
- 2005 New England Patriots: Lost in the divisional round
Of the previous eight cases, three teams missed the playoffs entirely, and that obviously doesn’t apply to the seeded Chiefs who got a bye during the Wild Card Round.
Of the remaining five, there were two teams that won a playoff game (interestingly, none of those lost in the Wild Card Round) but lost in the Divisional Round. The last three who each came closest all fell one game shy of history as the 1976 Steelers, 1990 49ers, and 1994 Cowboys all lost their conference championship game.
No team in NFL history looking for three straight titles has ever made it to the Super Bowl, so Kansas City could make history if they do. Obviously, as much as the Chiefs would love to reclaim that third title, since it has never happened across 58 Super Bowls to date, it seems fair to say that this would be something that will likely never happen again.
Consider recent cases of three consecutive titles won in other major American sports leagues:
- NBA: 2000-2002 (Los Angeles Lakers)
- NBA: 1998-2000 (New York Yankees)
- NHL: 1980-1983 (New York Islanders)
There have been instances in every league where a team has won back-to-back titles since then, but no team has won three in a row. Essentially, the Chiefs could do something that has not only never been done before in NFL history, but hasn’t been done in modern American sports history in general for more than 20 years.
Obviously, we’ve known all this since the moment the Chiefs lifted the Lombardi ship last February. It all goes back to Sunday, February 9, in New Orleans.
prepare.
