The Kansas City Chiefs keep finding themselves in Super Bowl rematches.
A year after beating the San Francisco 49ers for the second time in five seasons in the NFL’s championship game, quarterback Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs will square off against the Philadelphia Eagles for the second Super Bowl in a three-year run.
Kansas City beat Philadelphia 38-35 in 2023 in Glendale, Arizona, and the Chiefs will try to pull off another Super Bowl sweep on Feb. 9 at the Superdome in New Orleans. Fox will televise the matchup at 6:30 p.m. Eastern.
“This is a great football team we’re playing,” said Mahomes a three-time Super Bowl MVP. “They’re great on offense, they’re great on defense and special teams. We played them in a close Super Bowl a couple years ago, but they’ve added players and got even better, so it’ll take our best football to win.”
More than 40 players who participated in that nail-biter two years ago are projected to be on the field next week for Super Bowl LIX, including stars such as Mahomes, defensive tackle Chris Jones and tight end Travis Kelce for Kansas City along with quarterback Jalen Hurts, receiver A.J. Brown and offensive tackle Lane Johnson for Philadelphia.
Many played big roles in the last Super Bowl meeting. Hurts rushed for three touchdown and threw a 45-yard scoring strike to Brown, while Mahomes threw three touchdown passes, including one to Kelce, Nick Bolton returned a fumble for a touchdown, and Harrison Butker kicked the winning field goal with eight seconds left.
There have only been nine Super Bowl rematches in the previous 58 games, with just four happening in a five-year span before this rematch. The winners of those three rematches were the teams that won the first meeting.
Here’s a look at the other times there was a Super Bowl rematch within five seasons of the first meeting.
Kansas City Chiefs vs. San Francisco 49ers
Mahomes rallied Kansas City from a 10-point deficit in the fourth quarter for a 31-20 win in Super Bowl LIV on Feb. 2, 2020, with his biggest play a 44-yard pass to Tyreek Hill on third-and-15 that sparked the comeback.
The 49ers kept it even closer last season in a back-and-forth game that featured three go-ahead scoring drives led by Brock Purdy in the fourth quarter or overtime, but it wasn’t enough to topple Mahomes.
Mahomes engineered two game-tying field goal drives late in regulation. He then took advantage of San Francisco coach Kyle Shanahan’s decision to start overtime with the ball by responding to a field goal by the 49ers with a walk-off 3-yard touchdown pass to Mecole Hardman for a 25-22 win, Kansas City’s third title in this current run and the franchise’s fourth overall.
New York Giants vs. New England Patriots
New York quarterback Eli Manning and the Giants spoiled New England counterpart Tom Brady and the Patriots’ bid for a perfect 2007 season, then pulled off the upset again four years later.
The Patriots came into Super Bowl XLII in February 2008 with an 18-0 record and were on the brink of matching the perfect season of the 1972 Miami Dolphins when Brady threw a 6-yard touchdown pass to Randy Moss to make it 14-10 with 2:42 to go.
Manning then drove New York downfield — with help from David Tyree’s storied helmet catch — and threw the winning touchdown pass to Plaxico Burress to stun New England.
The Giants and Manning did it again to cap the 2011 season, driving to a game-winning touchdown with 57 seconds left for a 21-17 win at Super Bowl XLVI in February 2012.
Dallas Cowboys vs. Buffalo Bills
Dallas and Buffalo had the only Super Bowl rematch in consecutive seasons, meeting at the end of the 1992 and 1993 campaigns
The Cowboys got the best of both. They used nine takeaways and four touchdown passes from Troy Aikman to hand the Bills a 52-17 loss in Super Bowl XXVII in January 1993.
The rematch a year later was closer but had the same result. James Washington returned a fumble for a touchdown early in the third quarter to tie the game, and Emmitt Smith ran for two touchdowns in the second half for a 30-13 win that capped a fourth straight Super Bowl setback for the beleaguered Bills.
Pittsburgh Steelers vs. Dallas Cowboys
The Cowboys were on the wrong end of a Super Bowl rematch in the 1970s, losing to the Steelers to cap the 1975 and 1978 seasons.
Dallas became the first wild-card team to reach the title game in Super Bowl X thanks to a desperation pass to beat the Minnesota Vikings and a blowout against the Los Angeles Rams.
The Cowboys, though, fell short against Pittsburgh’s Steel Curtain defense in the second second-half comeback in Super Bowl history. Pittsburgh got a safety, two field goals and a 64-yard touchdown catch by Super Bowl MVP Lynn Swann in the fourth quarter of a 21-17 win to complete back-to-back titles for the Steelers.
Pittsburgh won again three years later in the first Super Bowl rematch, denying Dallas what would have been back-to-back championships.
Game MVP Terry Bradshaw threw four touchdown passes for the Steelers, and Jackie Smith dropped a potential touchdown catch for Dallas. Cowboys quarterback Roger Staubach’s late rally fell short as the Steelers won their third Super Bowl title, 35-31.