In the history of the NFL only eight NFL teams have won a Super Bowl back-to-back and now the Kansas City Chiefs have cemented themselves among those eight teams in the NFL history books.
The last time it happened was 19 seasons ago, when the New England Patriots were champions in 03’ and 04,’ but why is this such an impressive feat and why is it so hard to return?
In an interview with Fox News former St. Louis Rams quarterback Kurt Warner said, “(Winning) shortens your offseason, first and foremost.” Whoever wins the Super Bowl is at a five week disadvantage of preparing for the offseason,
with moves like coach and upper office hirings.
Obviously when you win a Super Bowl you probably won’t be firing any coaches but a big question for the Chiefs now that they repeated is will their three time Super Bowl winning Coach, Andy Reid, be returning to lead them to a potential third straight Super Bowl?
While this question does loom large, this year does seem to be an exception, with coaches like Bill Belichick and Mike Vrabel still in the coaching carousel and many around the league believe this might not have been Reid’s last rodeo. “You know, I get asked that. I’m good. I feel great. They say, it just hits you. Well, it hasn’t hit me,” Reid said in an article written by footballscoop.com.
Another challenge teams have to face when making it far into the playoffs is the target that gets put on your back by the 31 other teams around the league. Even for teams like the Lions who were knocked out in the NFC Championship Round, acknowledged the target that will be on their back heading into next season.
The target of defeat isn’t the only target that gets added to a Super Bowl winning team, the targets put on players entering free agency also rises when playing on a successful team. This could hurt Super Bowl winning teams who are low on money which also plays a pivotal role in the team’s future success because to be the best you have to pay the best.
The Chiefs heading into the 2024 off season will be losing star players like: Chris Jones, L’Jarius Sneed, Willie Gay and many other players, with only $24 million dollars in cap space.
While it’s safe to assume that some of those players will return or the Chiefs will upgrade at some of those positions their cap space doesn’t allow for much of a team wide upgrade unless a player like Patrick Mahomes restructures his contract to clear up some cap space.
The 2023 season for the Chiefs is the embodiment of what makes repeating so hard, new players trying to find their role on the team, upset losses, poor and unpredictable weather, and injuries. Despite these challenges the Chiefs were able to pull off one of the most unexpected playoff runs in recent years, with a roster that no one thought was capable of winning a Vince Lombardi
trophy.
It will be interesting to see if next year the Chiefs can do something that has never been done before in NFL history, which would be to win three Super Bowls back-to-back-to-back.
While no one knows what will happen and how it will unfold, there’s only one thing that’s certain which is that all eyes will be fixated on the Kansas City Chiefs.
