The Kansas City Chiefs are in historic territory.
The Chiefs, thanks to a wild 32-29 win over the Buffalo Bills in the AFC championship game on Sunday afternoon, have earned their spot in Super Bowl LIX. They’ll take on the Philadelphia Eagles — who rolled over the Washington Commanders in the NFC championship game — next month in New Orleans.
If the Chiefs can lift the Lombardi Trophy, it’ll mark their third straight Super Bowl win. No team in NFL history has ever won three straight. In fact, very few have even had the opportunity to do so. Kansas City is the first team to actually reach the Super Bowl after winning the game twice in a row.
Before the Chiefs, only eight other teams in NFL history won back-to-back Super Bowls. The New England Patriots were the most recent team to do so back in the 2005 season. Of those eight teams, however, only three of them made it to their conference championship game the following season to have a chance at making it to a third. They all lost.
The three-peat is so rare in American professional sports in general, too. The last major men’s professional team to win three straight championships was the Los Angeles Lakers. They won three consecutive NBA titles from 2000-02.
Here’s a look at every time the NFL has come close to a Super Bowl three-peat.
Green Bay Packers (1966-67)
The Green Bay Packers won the first two Super Bowls during the 1996 and 1967 seasons, though they went just 6-7-1 the following season and did not make the playoffs. Their Super Bowl win in 1968 was technically their third consecutive championship, though only two were Super Bowl wins. That three-peat does not count as the first was merely an NFL title before the inception of the Super Bowl.
Miami Dolphins (1971-73)
The Miami Dolphins were the next franchise to repeat as Super Bowl winners. They beat Washington 14-7 in 1973 and then the Minnesota Vikings 24-7 to win the game the following January. That came after the team made it to the Super Bowl during the 1971 season, though the Dallas Cowboys beat them 24-3 in Super Bowl VI.
After their two Super Bowl wins, the Dolphins went 11-3 and fell in the divisional round of the playoffs the next year. Their hopes of a three-peat were dashed at both ends.
Pittsburgh Steelers (1974-75, 78-79)
The Steelers went on a dominant run over the next six seasons immediately after the Dolphins’ wins. They won back-to-back Super Bowls twice, first over the Vikings and the Cowboys and then again over the Cowboys and the Los Angeles Rams during the 1978 and 1979 seasons, respectively. It marked a stretch where they reached the Super Bowl four times in six seasons.
The Steelers had a chance at making it to a third Super Bowl, too. They reached the AFC championship game during the 1976 season, but fell to the Oakland Raiders, the eventual Super Bowl champions. After their fourth ring, the Steelers missed the playoffs completely during the 1980 campaign to end their run.
San Francisco 49ers (1988-89)
The 49ers came so close to reaching a third straight Super Bowl following two consecutive titles during this run. They beat the Bengals in the Super Bowl during the 1988 campaign and then beat the Broncos the following year. While they reached the NFC title game in the 1990 playoffs, the New York Giants pulled off a two-point upset win at Candlestick Park to make it to the Super Bowl that year. The Giants went on to win that Super Bowl.
Dallas Cowboys (1992-95)
The Dallas Cowboys won three Super Bowl rings behind Troy Aikman over a four-season span, but they just narrowly missed out on making it to the big game every single time.
After their first two wins, the team fell in the NFC title game to Steve Young and the San Francisco 49ers during the 1994 season. The 49ers then beat the San Diego Chargers to win the title that year. The Cowboys, after rebounding the next year and winning the Super Bowl, were then knocked out of the divisional round of the playoffs during the 1996 season. The team has not been back to the Super Bowl, or even an NFC championship game, since.
Denver Broncos (1997-98)
John Elway and the Denver Broncos won back-to-back Super Bowls during the 1997 and 1998 seasons, which marked their first championships after falling in the game four other times in history. After Elway retired, the team failed to make the playoffs at all in the 1999 campaign. They actually went just 6-10 and finished last in their division in that run.
New England Patriots (2001-04)
The Patriots won three Super Bowls over a four-year span here, but they missed the playoffs during the 2002 campaign to snap any hopes of a three-peat. They fell in the divisional round of the playoffs in 2005, too.
Tom Brady and Bill Belichick ended up winning three more Super Bowls together before their dynasty fell apart, but none of them came in succession. They reached the AFC championship game eight straight times in the 2011-2018 seasons, and reached the Super Bowl five of those times. They nearly came up with a three-peat of their own twice, but fell in both the AFC title game in the 2015 season and lost in the Super Bowl in the 2017 season.
