Can the Kansas City Chiefs three-peat?
The Kansas City Chiefs are chasing history this season, as they look to become the first team to “three-peat”, aiming to win their third consecutive Super Bowl.
There have been some great teams in history, including the dynasties of the Pittsburgh Steelers in the 1970’s, the San Francisco 49ers in the 1980’s, the Dallas Cowboys’ in the 1990’s and the New England Patriots across two decades this century. However, none of them have won three straight Super Bowls.
We have seen three peats in other sports. In basketball, we have seen it done by the likes of Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls in the 1990’s and by the Los Angeles Lakers in the early 2000’s.
In baseball, The New York Yankees have had three separate three-peats, with a four peat and five peat before and after the war, as well from 1998 to 2000.
Real Madrid claimed three straight Champions League titles in the mid 2010’s and Manchester City at time of writing have won four straight Premier League trophies, with a treble in amongst this.
It is a real surprise, especially pre-salary cap days, that no team in the NFL since the Super Bowl era began has achieved this feat. The Buffalo Bills reached four straight Super Bowls but did not win any of them.
New England reached three straight Super Bowls from the 2016 season to the conclusion of the 2018 campaign, but the 41-33 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles at Super Bowl 52 in Minnesota stopped them winning back-to-back, let alone any potential three peat.
It goes to show the positive impact on the salary cap in the NFL, that it took just under 20 years for there to be a back-to-back champion, let alone three-peater.
However, in a league that has seen so many different winners in recent years, the league is danger of becoming dominated by one team, as the Kansas City Chiefs’ dominance is showing no signs of slowing down. Could they achieve NFL history in Super Bowl 59?
Any achievement runs through Patrick Mahomes
Just like 90% of the 32 of the NFL teams, the success of their season hangs in the balance of the performances of their quarterbacks, and no one shows this more than the Chiefs.
Patrick Mahomes is the greatest quarterback on the planet right now and is making it work with mostly average to sub-par wide receiver. Whilst he still has tight end Travis Kelce and exciting youngster Rashee Rice, there is no one else that is anything more than a sub-par receiver room.
After Kelce and Rice, the next best receiving yards total in 2023 came from Justin Watson, who had just 460 yards. To put it into context, the Cincinnati Bengals’ third best receiving yards total was 656 via Tee Higgins and the 49ers’ was Deebo Samuel with 892.
However, the Chiefs were still the team lifting the Lombardi Trophy, and this is massively down to Mahomes and his ability to make any receiver look good.
When they beat the Philadelphia Eagles in Super Bowl 57, Mahomes threw touchdowns to Skyy Moore and Kadarius Toney, who had just 421 yards between them in the entire 2022 regular season, and just 67 between them throughout the entire postseason.
Some quarterbacks lose top receivers and get worse, and some get great receivers and elevate their game. Mahomes lost star wideout Tyreek Hill and seemingly him and the Chiefs have gotten better.
An early bye week in 2024 could scupper any chances of a three-peat
The Chiefs bye week in 2024 is in Week 6, four weeks earlier than last season.
Their bye week came at the perfect time last season, allowing the players time to refresh ahead of an important run down the stretch. This is where it could be an issue in 2024, having one so early in the campaign.
Out of the 14 teams that made the playoffs in 2023, the latest bye week came for the Baltimore Ravens in Week 13, something that is sure to have had a positive impact on their season, locking up the #1 seed and reaching the AFC Championship.
The Tampa Bay Buccaneers had the earliest bye week in Week 5, and despite beating the Philadelphia Eagles in the Wildcard Round and narrowly losing to the Detroit Lions in the Divisional Round, they only made the playoffs because of a lacklustre division.
It goes to show just how important a later bye week can have on a team’s season. The Los Angeles Rams had a Week 11 bye week during their Super Bowl winning 2021 season. A season earlier and the Buccaneers had theirs in Week 13 on the way towards a second Lombardi Trophy.
Whether it was the 2018 Patriots in Week 11, 2017 Eagles in Week 10, 2016 Patriots in Week 9 or 2015 Denver Broncos in Week 7, there is a common trend of teams winning Super Bowls with bye weeks later on in the season.
In fact, the last time a team had a bye week earlier than Week 6 and won a Super Bowl was the 2009 New Orleans Saints in Week 5, which should worry the 2024 Chiefs.
Can they do it?
As said previously, if you have Mahomes, then anything is possible. However, they once again face a tough conference and the law of averages suggest that they are due a playoff loss at some point, something they have not had since the AFC Championship game following the 2021 season. Their last playoff loss that was not in a Super Bowl or Conference Championship came when they lost to the Tennessee Titans in the Wildcard Round of the 2017 season, so it will take a lot for the likes of the Houston Texans, Bengals or Ravens to knock the Chiefs off their perch.
There is a reason that no team has ever won three Super Bowls in a row, but the Chiefs have proved so far that previous history does not matter when you have got Andy Reid and Mahomes.