NFL teams repeating as champions used to be more common.
Over the first 39 Super Bowls, it happened eight times, with seven franchises responsible. Now, though, no team has done it since Tom Brady led the New England Patriots to two titles in a row to cap the 2003 and 2004 seasons.
The Kansas City Chiefs, who have their own star quarterback in Patrick Mahomes — he’s a two-time MVP of both the NFL and the Super Bowl variety — are aiming to become the league’s first back-to-back champs in 19 years when they face the San Francisco 49ers at Super Bowl LVIII on Feb. 11 in Las Vegas.
The Chiefs had a chance to do it three years ago, but Mahomes & Co. lost 31-9 to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, with Brady winning the record-breaking seventh NFL title of his career after winning six in 20 years with the Patriots. Two other teams — the 2017 Patriots and the 2014 Seattle Seahawks — also have failed in their repeat bid since the feat was last accomplished.
There hasn’t been a back-to-back Major League Baseball champion since the New York Yankees won three straight World Series from 1998 to 2000, but the Golden State Warriors gave the NBA a repeat winner in 2018, and the feat was accomplished even more recently in the NHL, with the Tampa Bay Lightning capturing the Stanley Cup for the second straight year in 2021.