The Miami Dolphins, Buffalo Bills and New England Patriots have all appeared in three straight Super Bowls – four in the Bills case, all of which they somehow lost – but none managed to pull off the feat of winning three in a row.
This season the Kansas City Chiefs could become the first team to achieve that accolade by following up their wins over the San Francisco 49ers and the Philadelphia Eagles with another Lombardi trophy success at the beginning of next year.
Just how realistic a prospect is that though? Read on to find out…
The Early Signs
In each of the past two seasons there have been rough spells for the Chiefs. Spells that led fans and esteemed pundits alike to embarrass themselves by totally writing off their Super Bowl chances.
Each time though, the cream finally rose to the top with the Chiefs seeing off the favourites in both of the last two showpiece finals. This season however Kansas have given their doubters nothing to feed off, by winning all of their opening six games.
What stands out the most from this first portion of the season though is not just the fact that the Chiefs have won six from six, but how they’ve done it – in trademark relentless fashion. The Ravens, Bengals, Falcons, Chargers, Saints and 49ers have all ruthlessly been put to the sword.
In every game the Chiefs have held their opponents at arm’s length before beating them into submission, which is something they usually reserve for the play offs. The fact that they have switched into that gear so early on is ominous for every other team in the NFL.
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(The Chiefs are just a winning machine this season.)
The Patrick Mahomes Factor
I, the writer of this article, am not American. I indulge my love of the NFL by waking up in the middle of the night to watch games and by spending all of my free time reading and listening to articles and podcasts about American football.
Despite living just under three and a half thousand miles away from the United States, I feel like I have understood everything I can about your nation’s finest sport. Everything that is, apart from the seeming under appreciation of the generational talent that is Patrick Mahomes.
That man is the Lionel Messi of the NFL but, at the time of writing he isn’t even the second favourite in the current NFL MVP odds. How? Why? And why, in the past two Super Bowls has the build up being about how Jalen Hurts and Brock Purdy are going to overshadow him?
Mahomes is the best quarterback in the NFL. He can do things that no other quarterback in the league can and, he is the main reason that the Chiefs are better placed than any side in the history of the game to win three Lombardi trophies in a row.
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(Patrick Mahomes is an insanely good player.)
“Mentality Monsters”
Here in England, every amateur football (sorry, soccer) team has at least one player who claims that they could have turned pro if things had gone in their favour. When you play with them, it’s clear to see that they have talent but, after the game when you go back to the bar you find out why they never cut it – mentality.
The reason I share that anecdote is to highlight a very important aspect of sport: it isn’t all about talent. The best players in the world aren’t the best players in the world because they were born that way. They are the best because they have matched their talent with an insane mentality that allows them to maximise their natural ability.
When I look at the Kansas City Chiefs I see a roster of players that are not only supremely talented, but also have iron mentalities. That has become abundantly clear in recent years as we have seen the Chiefs time and time again wrestle victory from the jaws of defeat.
That history of overcoming obstacles only further boosts this group’s winning mentality and it is that mentality which will, in my opinion, propel them to a third consecutive Super Bowl and make them one of the most storied sports teams in North American history.
