Friday, 4 a.m.
It’s hard to win one Super Bowl, okay. It’s rare to win two.
Winning three in a row? It’s never been done.
Tom Brady didn’t do it. Joe Montana didn’t. Bart Starr and Terry Bradshaw and John Elway didn’t do it. Vince Lombardi and Don Shula and Bill Belichick didn’t do it.
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So, whatever you think of the Kansas City Chiefs, grant them this: They’re on the verge of history.
Oh, I know, I know. The internet is filled with jokes about Patrick Mahomes and how the referees and the announcers are giddy at the mention of his name. And, yeah, there are a lot of times that Mahomes seems to get the star treatment on calls (hint: Michael Jordan got a lot of calls, too). But to have a chance to three-peat in the age of free agency and balanced schedules and salary caps it truly a rare feat.
Think about it. There are still 12 football teams in the NFL who have never won a Super Bowl. There are four teams that have never even played in one.
And the Chiefs are greedy enough to ask for a third helping.
Oh, there have been others who came close. A few teams have won three out of four.
But three in a row? Nope.
Start at the beginning. The Green Bay Packers took advantage of a league that hadn’t quite grown up in the first two Super Bowls. But then Lombardi retired, and too many players grew old, and the Packers slumped to 6-7-1 in their three-peat year.
Shula’s Miami Dolphins reached three straight Super Bowls in the early 70s (winning two), but then their stars chased money and signed with the World Football League. They played another year with Miami, but Larry Csonka, Jim Kiick and Paul Warfield all failed to match their numbers. The Dolphins lost to the Raiders in the divisional round of the playoffs.
The Pittsburgh Steelers had two shots at a three-peat. They won back-to-back titles in 1974 and 1975 and again in 1978 and 1979. But in 1976, they lost to a strong Raiders team. In 1980, their defense was showing age and the team slumped to 9-7.
It was San Francisco’s turn in 1990. San Francisco had two Super Bowls with two coaches (Bill Walsh and George Siefert) in the previous two years. But in the NFC title game, the New York Giants knocked Joe Montana out of the game to end San Francisco’s run.
The Dallas Cowboys won two in a row under Jimmy Johnson, but he was fired abruptly by Jerry Jones. The team went 10-6 without him and lost to the 49ers in the divisional round.
The Denver Broncos won back-to-back in 1997 and 1998. But after the second Super Bowl, Elway retired. In the fourth week of the season, Terrell Davis was injured. The Broncos fell to 6-10.
New England won six Super Bowls under Belichick and Brady, but only once did they go back-to-back. That was in 2003 and 2004. In 2005, the Pats lost to Denver in the divisional round.
And here we are, with Mahomes and Travis Kelce and the boys showing off for Taylor Swift.
Can they do it? All season, the Chiefs have won close games. They’ve had more impressive years. And Buffalo is a darned good team. The odds of winning three seem impossible.
By now, you’d have to be silly to pick against them.
Then again, I’ve been silly before.
Prediction: Buffalo 27, Kansas City 24.
And in the NFC:
Washington 31, Philadephia 24.