In the near-60 years of the Super Bowl era, only nine teams have won back-to-back championships. The most recent of these was Patrick Mahomes and his Kansas City Chiefs, who triumphed in 2022 and 2023. They’ve got a great chance at becoming the first team ever to win three straight Super Bowls. Or do they? One pundit wanted to make sure he threw some “cold water” on the whole, first-ever three-peat “nonsense”.
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NFL pundit and historian, Chris “Mad Dog” Russo, was on set for First Take on Wednesday, and he was damned if he was going to let all this three-peat talk continue without mentioning Vince Lombardi and the Green Bay Packers of the mid-1960s. They won the first two Super Bowls in 1966 and 1967, but they also won the 1965 NFL Championship, which means they technically completed a three-peat already.
“Can I pour cold water on this three-peat nonsense? … The Packers would have beaten the [AFL’s] Buffalo Bills in 1965, if there was a Super Bowl… What, Jack Kemp would’ve beaten Lombardi in ’65? Remember? They beat the Browns—Jim Brown’s Browns!—who were the defending champs, to win the Championship. In ’65, there was no Super Bowl! So they won in ’65, ’66, and ’67, that’s the three-peat! This is ridiculous, Lombardi did it [already]!”
However, as Stephen A. Smith alluded to, the game has changed markedly in the last 60 years. Not only are the athletes better, faster, stronger, and bigger, but there are a lot more teams, which makes winning that much more difficult. Jeff Saturday then pointed out some other reasons why a three-peat now might be a bit more impressive than it was in the 1960s.
“The game has completely changed. I’m not even just talking about the players. The rules of our game are set up for parity. We have a draft now, we have free agency now, you can’t stash players on your practice or taxi squad and keep them on there for five years, pay them whatever. The other owners want a shot… If they win this one, it is the greatest dynasty in NFL history. Because of all the rules, the way it’s all set up.”
Whether you count Vince Lombardi’s pseudo-three-peat or not, Patrick Mahomes and company completing one in today’s game is beyond impressive. Does it make Mahomes the GOAT? We’re not so sure, but the debate should definitely be had.
Does a three-peat make Patrick Mahomes the GOAT?
With Patrick Mahomes and company just one win away from reaching their third straight Super Bowl, the discussions about his legacy are taking center stage. Of course, Stephen A. had to say his piece on the topic. While most say that a three-peat would boost Mahomes’ already impressive legacy, they stop short of saying he’d surpass Tom Brady. But not Stephen A.
“It would be epic, there’s no question about it, because it’s never been done in the history of football… To be in this era with these outstanding athletes… Tom Brady didn’t even win back-to-back-to-back Super Bowl titles. It would be huge for the sport, it would be huge for the city, it would be huge for the franchise, and it would cement Patrick Mahomes as the greatest QB in the history of the NFL.”
Only the Buffalo Bills of the early 1990s and New England Patriots of the late 2010s have ever even been to three straight Super Bowls. The Bills reached four straight from 1990 to 1993, losing all four. The Pats won two (2016 and 2018) out of three from 2016 to 2018.
Of the eight other teams to have won back-to-back Super Bowls, five made the playoffs in their three-peat seasons. Only three—the 1976 Steelers, the 1990 49ers, the 1994 Cowboys—returned to the Conference Championship Game as the Chiefs have. All three lost to the eventual Super Bowl champions.
K.C. will look to continue their march for that elusive three-peat when they host the rival Bills on Sunday at 6:30PM in the 2024 AFC Championship Game.
