Super Bowl LIX: Why Has No NFL Team Ever Won a Threepeat?

• The Kansas City Chiefs go for history with a threepeat in Super Bowl LIX
• The Philadelphia Eagles strive to avoid losing two of the three Super Bowls
• Seven teams have gone for a threepeat and failed

Now that Super Bowl LIX is set, the reality of the Chiefs getting so close to achieving history is hitting home. If they manage to pull off a Super Bowl threepeat, they will have done something that no other NFL team has done. And it’s not for lack of trying.

Seven teams have won two consecutive Super Bowls. No team has won three straight.

There must be a reason for it. While injuries, attrition, ego, drama, complacency, and grasping for credit are all factors, it can be more useful to look at the teams that won consecutive Super Bowls and why they fell short in their pursuit of a third.

Green Bay Packers, Super Bowls I & II

The Packers won the inaugural two Super Bowls before the NFL-AFL merger. After the second championship win over the Raiders, head coach Vince Lombardi left the sideline.

The foundation of the dynasty either got old simultaneously, departed, or retired.

• Quarterback Bart Starr was 33
• Halfback Paul Hornung was gone
• Free safety Willie Wood was 31
• Linebacker Ray Nitschke was 31
• Receiver Max McGee was 35
• Tackle Forrest Gregg was 34
• Right guard Jerry Kramer was 31

Lombardi did longtime assistant Phil Bengston no favors by retiring from coaching and leaving his successor a bunch of old superstars and not adequately replacing them while looming as GM. They finished 6-7-1 and in third place in the NFL Central. Ironically, had Lombardi been coaching, their division was so weak, they might have made the playoffs. Maybe he could have dragged them through one more time.

Miami Dolphins, Super Bowls VII & VIII

Don Shula built a juggernaut. Counting the postseason, they won an unheard of 32 of 34 games including their undefeated season on the way to winning Super Bowl VII.

The roster was stacked with Hall of Famers Bob Griese, Larry Csonka, Paul Warfield, Nick Buoniconti, Larry Little, and Jim Langer. They had other excellent players Jim Kiick, Mercury Morris, Dick Anderson, and Jake Scott.

In 1974, the Dolphins won the AFC East with an 11-3 record. They traveled to Oakland for the Divisional Round and led in the fourth quarter 26-21 before Raiders quarterback Ken Stabler threw a desperation touchdown pass to Clarence Davis with 35 seconds remaining. Oakland won 28-26.

Pittsburgh Steelers, Super Bowls IX & X; XIII & XIV

The Steelers had two chances at a threepeat within five years. They are referred to as the team of the 1970s because of it. They had a slow climb from the mess Hall of Fame head coach Chuck Noll inherited in 1969 that went 1-13. But it allowed them to draft Terry Bradshaw first overall in 1970. They took Mel Blount in the third round.

Bradshaw and Blount joined future Hall of Fame defensive tackle “Mean” Joe Greene, taken in 1969. Already in place was running back Rocky Bleier. In 1971, they nabbed linebacker Jack Ham, defensive end Dwight White, and tackle Larry Brown. In 1972, they drafted running back Franco Harris.

Then came 1974.

That year, four of their first five draft picks — Lynn Swann, Jack Lambert, John Stallworth, and Mike Webster — all ended up in the Hall of Fame.

These players comprised the foundation for all of their Super Bowl wins.

In 1976, they missed out on their attempted threepeat with a decisive 24-7 loss to the Raiders in the AFC Championship Game.

The second attempt at a threepeat was undone for reasons similar to what happened to the Packers after Super Bowls I and II. Old and beaten up, they fell to 9-7, missing the playoffs.

San Francisco 49ers, Super Bowls XXIII & XXIV

Just as the Steelers were the team of the 1970s, the 49ers were the team of the 1980s. Bill Walsh built them from the ground up. Led by Joe Montana, Ronnie Lott, Roger Craig, and Jerry Rice, the late 1980s team is in the argument for best ever.

They came the closest to reaching a third straight Super Bowl, losing 15-13 to the Giants in the NFC Championship Game. The 49ers were so confident that they would win that they had their equipment sent ahead to Tampa for Super Bowl XXV.

The Giants had other ideas.

Dallas Cowboys, Super Bowls XXVII & XXVIII

Jerry Jones and Jimmy Johnson took over what amounted to an expansion team in 1989 armed only with the first overall draft pick and a few players they could use (Michael Irvin) or trade (Herschel Walker). They selected Troy Aikman with that pick, traded away Walker for a motherlode, and picked up Emmitt Smith in 1990.

By 1992, they had the most young talent seen in the league since the Steelers. They blew out Buffalo in consecutive Super Bowls.

But Jones and Johnson battled for credit and control and Johnson was out after the second title. Barry Switzer took over, steering the vehicle on cruise control. It was his lax management style that Aikman always blamed for the Cowboys’ loss to the 49ers in the NFC Championship that year. Had they gotten beyond San Francisco, they almost assuredly would have put a similar beating to the one the 49ers put on the Chargers and completed the threepeat. They won another Super Bowl under Switzer the next year.

Denver Broncos, Super Bowls XXXII & XXXIII

As the sun was setting on John Elway’s storied career, he leveraged his sway with the Broncos to get his preferred offensive mastermind Mike Shanahan in as head coach. Elway had been to three previous Super Bowls and got hammered in all three.

After the team fell short in Shanahan’s first two seasons, they crafted a star-studded team with Elway, Terrell Davis, Shannon Sharpe, and Steve Atwater.

They stopped Brett Favre from winning his second straight title in Super Bowl XXXII, then won it again the next year.

Elway retired after the second title, the team had a major quarterback controversy in training camp when the expected starter, veteran Bubby Brister, was passed over in favor of Brian Griese. That year, they went 6-10.

New England Patriots, Super Bowls XXXVIII & XXXIX

Early in the Patriots’ two-decade run of dominance under Tom Brady and Bill Belichick, they won three titles in four years but missed out on their chance for a threepeat. In 2005, they fell back significantly from their 34-4 run over two seasons, counting playoffs.

After a 10-6 season, they won the AFC East and their Wild Card matchup with Jacksonville but fell to Denver in the Divisional Round 27-13. They didn’t win another Super Bowl for a decade.

The Chiefs Verge on a Super Bowl Threepeat

In its quest for a threepeat in Super Bowl LIX, Kansas City is currently a 1.5-point favorite to pull off the trifecta, something that has never been done in the Super Bowl era. The Chiefs have made it further than their predecessors.

So, can they do it? Patrick Mahomes, Travis Kelce, Andy Reid, and co. have accomplished everything else. This is the next item on the list and history is in the balance.

New Player Bonus 50% up to $1000

BET NOW