The Kansas City Chiefs are already in rarefied territory.
With two Super Bowl titles to their name and playing in their fourth in five seasons, they have become the newest NFL juggernaut.
Their appearance in Super Bowl LVIII on Sunday in Las Vegas is their second in as many years and gives them the opportunity to achieve a feat which has not been done in the NFL in 20 years and is often regarded as the most difficult thing to do in sports: win back-to-back titles.
The Chiefs beat the Philadelphia Eagles in a thrilling encounter at last year’s Super Bowl, and despite having a subpar regular season, flipped the switch in the playoffs to book their spot in Nevada.
But retaining the Vince Lombardi Trophy is a different kettle of fish.
Some of US sports’ legendary teams have had the ability to retain their titles – from the 1990s Chicago Bulls to the late 90s-early 00s New York Yankees, both of which achieved three-peats (winning a championship three years in a row) – but with NFL teams facing one-and-done elimination games in the postseason, the pressure is even higher than most other sports.
The last team to win back-to-back Super Bowl titles was the New England Patriots – led by the famous combination of head coach Bill Belichick and quarterback Tom Brady – doing so in 2003 and 2004.
Seven teams in total have won consecutive Super Bowl titles, with the Pittsburgh Steelers being the only team to do so twice.
It’s not just hard in football…
Difficulty in defending a title isn’t a problem exclusive to the NFL though. Across the US, teams in the four main sports have long struggled to replicate their success over consecutive seasons.
Since the Yankees team of the early 2000s, which won MLB’s World Series three times in a row, no team has repeated as champion.
Back-to-back Stanley Cup winners have happened twice since the turn of the millennium: first, the Pittsburgh Penguins in 2016 and 2017 and, then, the Tampa Bay Lightning in 2020 and 2021.
