The 1968 Packers didn't make it, but that was to be expected: They were already older than Old Faithful and had said goodbye to Vince Lombardi. The 1974 Dolphins didn't make it, as Kenny Stabler found Clarence Davis among Miami's many players, ending Don Shula's search just before the WFL ripped through the core of his team.
The 1976 Steelers never got there despite allowing just 28 points combined in nine straight wins to end the season, and when they tried again in 1979, they simply fell prey to the forces of time.
The 1990 49ers should have done that, but Leonard Marshall nearly sent Joe Montana to Kingdom Come, Lawrence Taylor forced a fumble and Matt Barr made five field goals to lead the Giants to victory. The '94 Cowboys lost Jimmy Johnson, the '99 Broncos lost John Elway and the '05 Patriots somehow lost to Jake Plummer in Denver.
Three-peat is hard. Things happen, players leave, coaches leave. The target on a team's back already feels as big as Niagara Falls, but with a three-peat, it suddenly becomes three or four times as big. Three-peat is hard in any sport. In the NFL, it's kind of mathematically impossible and physically impossible all rolled into one.
And yet, here we are, the Kansas City Chiefs.
On Thursday night, they began a mission never before accomplished by any other powerhouse in sports in the 57 years since the Super Bowl's inception: The Chiefs hosted the Ravens at Arrowhead Stadium in what was meant to be a preview of Sunday, Jan. 24, when the AFC Championship Game will be played.
Here's what we know about the Chiefs:
At the very least, what separates them from the first eight teams to attempt the trick is that they're just as good now as they were when they won the 2024 Super Bowl with a 25-22 overtime win over the 49ers at Allegiant Stadium on Feb. 11. In fact, they might even be better, but only 20 (or 21) games from Thursday through February will tell us that for sure.
What's not up for debate is that they still have Steve Spagnuolo, a four-time Super Bowl champion who is on a hot streak this year of trying to win his fifth. They still have Andy Reid, who enters this season with 258 wins, the fourth-most of any coach to have worked in the NFL. And, of course, they still have Patrick Mahomes.
Mahomes won't even turn 29 until Sept. 17, and already has three Super Bowl wins and two MVP awards under his belt. He's by far the hottest player in the league. And even if he's past the cartoonish stats of his youth, there's no one teams will fear more than Mahomes when they need to protect a lead late in games — not Josh Allen, not Lamar Jackson, not Joe Burrow, not Jalen Hurts.
“Patrick gives us a chance to win every game we play,” Reid said earlier in the summer, “and it doesn't matter if it's a mid-September game or the last game of the season. We always want to get to the Super Bowl. We're not a one-man team, but he's the force that guides us.”
The Chiefs have never been shy about talking about their lofty ambitions — they started talking about a third straight championship about a minute and a half after Mahomes threw a 3-yard pass to Mecole Hardman with three seconds left in the first overtime period of the Super Bowl — and they know what's within their grasp — and there's more to come.
They can really do this.
For many of the other teams, the reasons for their failed attempts were obvious, perhaps most regrettable of all being the '90 49ers. They started 10-0 and lost only twice, by a total of 14 points, but the Giants nearly beat them in a rock fight during the season, losing 7-3 on a Monday night in early December, before winning the NFC title game in one of the greatest rock fights of all time.
The Chiefs looked weak for much of last season, then went on the road and beat the Bills in Buffalo and the Ravens in Baltimore to further enhance their aura. So they won't be as hung up on seeding or home turf as other teams. They showed they could take the easy route by hosting the Arrowhead January Invitational, or hop on a plane and take the hard route. Now they need to prove they can do it again, either way.
And they're doing something no team in the Super Bowl era has ever done before.
