As winners of three Super Bowls in the last five years, the Kansas City Chiefs already breathe rarefied air.
The only other four teams to win that many Super Bowls in such a short timeframe are the Pittsburgh Steelers of the 1970s; the Dallas Cowboys of the 1990s; and two different iterations of the Tom Brady/Bill Belichick-led New England Patriots.
But with another championship this year, the Chiefs would stand alone.
Led by head coach Andy Reid, quarterback Patrick Mahomes and tight end Travis Kelce, the Chiefs seek to become the first team in NFL history to win three consecutive Super Bowls.
“Obviously, you want to win three in a row,” Mahomes said. “But building those memories with the guys and with the community every single year is special. When I look back at all the different Super Bowls that we’ve won, I look back at special moments that we’ve had and special games that we’ve had. We’ll try to do the same this year.”
Kansas City dominated the 2022 season from start to finish, culminating in an instant-classic 38-35 victory over the Philadelphia Eagles in Super Bowl LVII.
The Chiefs endured a subpar 2023 regular season, at least by their lofty standards, by going 11-6, but rounded into form in time for another championship run, which they completed with a 25-22 overtime win over the San Francisco 49ers in Super Bowl LVIII.
This year’s Chiefs share elements with both of the previous teams.
They finished 15-2 — including 15-1 in the games Mahomes started — and are again the AFC’s No. 1 seed. That gave them a first-round bye and guarantees them home-field advantage through the AFC playoffs, beginning with Saturday afternoon’s Divisional-Round game against the Houston Texans.
But the Chiefs also flashed imperfections throughout the regular season.
Offensively, the once-high-powered Chiefs ranked 17th in yards per game (327.6) and 15th in points (22.6). Defensively, they ranked ninth in yards allowed (320.6) and fourth in opposing scoring (19.2).
They caught breaks throughout the season, from Isaiah Likely’s toe landing out of bounds in Week 1; to their block of the Denver Broncos’ would-be-game-winning 35-yard field in Week 10; to the Las Vegas Raiders botching a snap and losing a fumble at the end of Week 13.
“We’re finding different ways to win and more ways to win, early on and throughout the season,” Kelce said on ESPN’s “The Pat McAfee Show.” “Last year, we dealt with finding ways to lose. You can learn from both, but learning from the games you win is a whole lot more fun.”
Still, the cardiac nature of the tightrope-walking Chiefs produced its share of doubters.
The Chiefs’ point differential of +59 ranked 11th in the NFL — nearly 100 points fewer than the AFC’s No. 2 and No. 3 seeds, the Buffalo Bills and Baltimore Ravens, who both finished the season at +157.
“We’ve got a lot of confidence in this team, and a lot of guys are willing to go that extra mile,” Kelce said. “We’ve definitely heard all the chatter, and guys like [ESPN analyst] Rex Ryan saying that this team can’t win in the playoffs and he’s seen it before. We hear everything, but at the same time, we know what’s real and what’s in this building.”
A championship would be the fourth overall for Mahomes, Kelce and Reid, who won their first Super Bowl after the 2019 season. They also made it to Super Bowl LV after the 2020 season but lost to Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Mahomes, 29, is already one of only five quarterbacks to win three Super Bowls. He would become one of four QBs to win at least four, joining Brady, who won seven, as well as Joe Montana and Terry Bradshaw, who won four apiece.
Reid, meanwhile, would join Belichick, who won six, and Chuck Noll, who won four, as the only head coaches with four Super Bowl victories.
“You don’t ever go there,” Reid, 66, said when asked if he considers the history that’s on the line. “You’re kind of tunneled in here, just trying to find another play that possibly works, or a defensive play that works, or special teams guys are doing that part. It’s a weird dynamic that way. You don’t ever look at that stuff.”
The Chiefs would become the second team to win four Super Bowls in a six-year stretch, joining Noll’s Steelers, who won after the 1974, 1975, 1978 and 1979 seasons.
The key to another Chiefs run could again be Kelce, who, at age 35, is coming off of a second consecutive season in which his statistics dipped.
Kelce proved to have plenty left in the tank last postseason — with at least 71 receiving yards in all four playoff games, including 93 on nine receptions in the Super Bowl — leading many to believe his reduced regular-season production was a matter of self-preservation.
“I think it’s just the greats, man, they step up in the playoffs,” Mahomes said. “It’s just higher intensity. The best players and the best leaders step up and make the best plays, and he’s done that, and I expect the same from him going into these playoffs.”
The Chiefs’ latest championship pursuit begins against a banged-up Texans team that won the AFC South but limped into the playoffs at 10-7, only to cruise past the Los Angeles Chargers, 32-12, in the Wild-Card round.
Typically reliant on standout second-year quarterback C.J. Stroud, the Texans leaned last week on a dominant defense that intercepted four Justin Herbert passes.
It will be much tougher against the battle-tested Mahomes, who is 12-2 at home in the playoffs.
“It’s been a fun run up to this point, but we want to get to that ultimate goal,” Mahomes said. “We know it’s going to be challenging, so we have to just really focus in on the day and how we can get better.”