Winning a championship in the four major North American sports leagues (NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL) is no easy feat. The rules in place promote parity, which is why dynasties are so rare. However, the Kansas City Chiefs are bucking that trend. They’ve won three Super Bowls in five years, and they’re on the cusp of a historic three-peat, the first in the NFL’s Super Bowl era.
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Since the start of the Super Bowl era in 1966, only seven teams in those four leagues have accomplished a three-peat. Thrice in the NBA, twice in the NHL, twice in the MLB, but never in the NFL. Heck, only nine teams in NFL history have even won two Super Bowls in a row, the most recent of which being these Chiefs, in 2022 and 2023. So, what happened to those other eight teams, and why weren’t they able to get over that three-peat hump?
1968 Green Bay Packers – Missed Playoffs
The first team to go back-to-back as Super Bowl champs just so happened to be the first team to win a Super Bowl, period. The Green Bay Packers won Super Bowls I and II following the 1966 and 1967 seasons, which led to the league naming the Super Bowl trophy after their head coach, Vince Lombardi. Technically, one could say that these Packers already completed a three-peat: they also won the final NFL championship pre-Super Bowl era in 1965.
But we’re talking strictly Super Bowls here, so that doesn’t count for our purposes. Sorry Mad Dog. They did have a chance to complete an actual Super Bowl three-peat in 1968, but they fell flat. The departures of the legendary Lombardi and Super Bowl hero Max McGee in the offseason were big blows, and despite five All-Pro or Pro Bowl players on defense, they went just 6-7-1 and missed the playoffs.
1974 Miami Dolphins – Lost in Divisional Round
It didn’t take long for another team to win back-to-back Super Bowls. After losing in Super Bowl VI, the Miami Dolphins achieved the only perfect season in NFL history with a 14-0 run and a championship the very next year in 1972. The Dolphins came back and won again in 1973 and seemed poised to continue their dynasty heading into the mid-1970s.
Unfortunately for them, there were already a couple of other burgeoning AFC powerhouses flying up the ranks. While Don Shula’s guys still went 11-3 and won the AFC East division, they came up against John Madden’s Oakland Raiders, who slipped by them 28-26 in the Divisional Round thanks to a late TD pass from Ken Stabler to Clarence Davis. The Raiders would go on to lose to our next dynasty in the AFC Championship.
1976 Pittsburgh Steelers – Lost AFC Championship
After the Raiders beat the Dolphins, they welcomed the Pittsburgh Steelers to their house for the 1974 AFC Championship Game. A rough and tumble affair throughout—as all Raiders-Steelers matchups were in the 1970s—the Steelers were able to pull away from the Raiders late to win the game 24-13 before dominating the Minnesota Vikings to win Super Bowl IX. They would go back-to-back by taking down America’s Team, the Dallas Cowboys, in a thrilling Super Bowl X.
Pittsburgh was bringing back nearly the exact same team in 1976, so expectations were high. However, an injury to HOF QB Terry Bradshaw following a 1-4 start nearly took the three-peat off the table. But then, the Steelers rattled off nine straight wins to finish 10-4 thanks to a strong running game and an all-time defense that allowed a then-record 9.9 points per game all year.
During that nine-game winning streak, the Steel Curtain had arguably the greatest run of any defense in history. They pitched five shutouts, and allowed just 28 total points over those nine games, which comes out to just over 3.1 points per game. Unfortunately, the Raiders got their revenge, as they won the 1976 AFC Championship over the Steelers 24-7 before they went on to triumph at that year’s Super Bowl.
1980 Pittsburgh Steelers – Missed Playoffs
Chuck Noll’s Steelers wouldn’t be down for long, however. They lost in the first round of the 1977 playoffs to the eventual AFC Champion Denver Broncos, but they were back in the Super Bowl against those same Cowboys in 1978. Super Bowl XIII, which the Steelers won 35-31, went down as one of the greatest games in the history of the Big Game. They came back and beat the Los Angeles Rams in 1979 for their 4th Super Bowl in six years.
However, they had squeezed everything they could out of that group, which consisted of 10 Hall of Fame players and Hall of Fame head coach Chuck Noll. By 1980, most of those guys were over the hill, and the team finished just 9-7 and missed the playoffs for the first time since 1971. They would win just two playoff games over the next 14 years as Pittsburgh went into hibernation mode ahead of Bill Cowher and Blitzburgh’s arrival in the mid-1990s.
1990 San Francisco 49ers – Lost in NFC Championship
We didn’t have another back-to-back champ until the tail-end of the Joe Montana era with the San Francisco 49ers. Despite QB drama surrounding the arrival of Steve Young in 1987 and the shock departure of genius head coach Bill Walsh after the 1988 season, the 49ers won Super Bowls XXIII and XXIV following the 1988 and 1989 campaigns.
The 1990 49ers were probably the team that had the best shot at going for the three-peat. They went 14-2 for the second straight year, they were top 10 in scoring and total offense and top three in scoring and total defense, and Joe Montana had just won his second straight NFL MVP award. After dominating in the Divisional Round, the 49ers took on the Giants in the NFC Championship.
With New York trotting out backup Jeff Hostetler, it seemed a foregone conclusion that the Niners would be headed to their third straight Bowl. However, Leonard Marshall’s infamous bone-crushing sack of Montana chased the QB from the contest. New York went on to win 15-13 without scoring a TD. An elbow injury the following summer essentially ended Montana’s 49ers career thereafter. His successor, Steve Young, did come back and win one more for the Bay in 1994.
1994 Dallas Cowboys – Lost in NFC Championship
Jimmy Johnson’s Dallas Cowboys, led by the “Triplets” of Troy Aikman, Michael Irvin, and Emmitt Smith, dominated in 1992 and 1993, beating the Buffalo Bills in Super Bowls XXVII and XXVIII by a combined score of 82-30. They seemed unstoppable, and had taken down Steve Young’s 49ers in both NFC Championships.
The pair would meet in the NFC Championship for the 3rd straight year in 1994, with the Cowboys looking to punch their ticket to the Super Bowl for the chance at the three-peat. This was Young’s year to “get the monkey” off his back, however, his 49ers beat the Cowboys soundly to end the three-peat dream. Dallas did come back in 1995 to win one more Super Bowl before descending into the familiar mediocrity they continue in today.
1999 Denver Broncos – Missed Playoffs
Prior to 1997, John Elway was the quintessential “great QB who could never win the big one”, as he lost three Super Bowls in the 1980s, each by a more devastating margin than the last. Then, the Denver Broncos drafted a little-known running back named Terrell Davis that changed the trajectory of Elway’s career. Davis won two OPOY awards and one MVP from 1996 to 1998, as he served as the catalyst for Denver’s epic back-to-back Super Bowl triumphs in 1997 and 1998.
However, there was no push for a three-peat here. John Elway, now almost 39, retired after that second Super Bowl, and injuries held Davis to just 17 games over the next three seasons before forcing him into early retirement in 2001 at age 29. The 1999 Broncos would go 6-10, and the franchise would remain in the middle of the pack until another iconic QB came to Mile High in the mid-2010s to win one last Super Bowl and retire on top a la Elway.
2005 New England Patriots – Lost in Divisional Round
After shocking the world to win Super Bowl XXXVI in 2001, the New England Patriots missed the playoffs in 2002. They made some defensive additions in 2003, including the signing of safety Rodney Harrison, and cruised to triumphs in Super Bowls XXXVIII and XXXIX following the 2003 and 2004 seasons, posting a 28-4 combined regular season record during those campaigns.
New England was beset by injuries in 2005, however, as Harrison and LB Tedy Bruschi missed significant time while All-Pro cornerback Ty Law was released. The Patriots started 45 different players that year, which remains an NFL record for a division champ. They still managed a 10-6 record and a division title, but gun-slinger Jake Plummer and the Broncos beat them up in the Divisional Round.
