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Those four teams – along with the Green Bay Packers, San Francisco 49ers, and Denver Broncos – have all tasted a special kind of victory by lifting the Lombardi Trophy two seasons in a row.
But no one has ever won three titles consecutively. The Chiefs, as the No. 1 seed in the AFC has a strong chance of reaching the mountaintop of the NFL once again.
With Kansas City on the precipice of doing something that no one has ever done before, they could be forgiven for having their minds set on that goal.
Apparently, that’s not the case – at least, that’s according to one team leader: tight end Travis Kelce.
Kelce says the team is hyper-focused on the task immediately ahead of them – an AFC Divisional round clash with the Houston Texans at home on Saturday.
| Team | First win | Second win | Third result? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Green Bay | Super Bowl I | Super Bowl II | Missed playoffs (NYJ win SB III) |
| Miami | Super Bowl VII | Super Bowl VIII | Lost divisional round (PIT win SB IX |
| Pittsburgh | Super Bowl IX | Super Bowl X | Lost AFC Championship (OAK win SB XI) |
| Pittsburgh | Super Bowl XII | Super Bowl XIV | Missed playoffs (OAK win SB XV) |
| San Francisco | Super Bowl XXIII | Super Bowl XXIV | Lost NFC Championship (NYG win SB XXV) |
| Dallas | Super Bowl XXVII | Super Bowl XXVIII | Lost NFC Championship (SF win SB XXIX) |
| Denver | Super Bowl XXXII | Super Bowl XXXIII | Missed playoffs (STL win SB XXXIV) |
| New England | Super Bowl XXXVIII | Super Bowl XXXIX | Lost divisional round (PIT win SB XL) |
| Kansas City | Super Bowl LVII | Super Bowl LVIII | TBD |
‘I haven’t heard anyone talk about anything three-peat, anything like that,’ Kelce told Chris Berman in a sit-down interview with ESPN.
‘We’re focused on the Houston Texans right now. Anybody can get beat in the playoffs if you don’t come in with the right mentality, the right mindset.’
While the current mindset of the team is on the next game ahead of them, Mahomes and the Chiefs have at least discussed a potential three-peat.
‘It (would be) legendary,’ quarterback Patrick Mahomes said last February of a three-peat, via Adam Teicher of ESPN.
‘No one’s ever done it, and we knew it’s legendary to win back-to-back. I think eight other teams have done it.
‘We had heard it all week. We had talked to the guys (who had gone back-to-back) about it, and we felt like we had the best opportunity that we had ever had to go out there and do that.’
While Kansas City is certainly poised to three-peat – going 15-2 in the regular season and earning home field advantage through the playoffs, history is not on their side.
Of the previous eight teams to attempt a three-peat (Pittsburgh had two attempts), no back-to-back champions have even reached a third-straight Super Bowl – let alone actually win the Big Game.
In fact, of those eight, three of them missed the playoffs altogether.
Two of those teams – the Miami Dolphins and the New England Patriots – were eliminated in the Divisional round, the very round the Chiefs play this weekend.
Only three teams looking to three-peat even made their conference’s championship games. All those teams – Pittsburgh (the first time), San Francisco, and Dallas – ended up losing to the eventual Super Bowl champions (the Oakland Raiders, the New York Giants, and San Francisco 49ers, respectively).
If Kansas City takes care of business, as they’re expected, they would face the winner of a game between the Buffalo Bills and the Baltimore Ravens in the AFC title game.
There’s recent history with both those teams. The Chiefs beat the Ravens by only one score in the opening game of the NFL season at home. Later in the season, they lost to the Bills by nine on the road.
Both those teams also have playoff revenge on their minds. Last year, the Chiefs beat both the Bills and Ravens to reach the Super Bowl. Kansas City knocked off Buffalo in the divisional round by three points before beating the Ravens in Baltimore by a touchdown.