The marriage between the Kansas City Chiefs and quarterback Patrick Mahomes has been idyllic.
In six seasons as the Chiefs' starting quarterback, Mahomes has led Kanas City to four Super Bowl appearances in the last five years, two of which ended with him hoisting the Lombardi Trophy.He has also led the Chiefs to six consecutive AFC West titles while earning the league's Most Valuable Player award — and Super Bowl MVP — twice.
But the two have yet to accomplish one thing together: win back-to-back Super Bowl titles.
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Mahomes came close to doing so in 2021, a year after he led the Chiefs to a 31-20 over the San Francisco 49ers. He ultimately fell short as Kansas City fell 31-9 to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Tom Brady — the last to lead consecutive Super Bowl victories, 20 years ago, while he was with the New England Patriots.
The former Texas Tech gunslinger will get his second shot at replicating Brady’s feat in Super Bowl 58 against the 49ers on Sunday. Here’s everything you need to know about which NFL teams, and their starting quarterbacks, have won back-to-back Super Bowl titles:
QBs to win back-to-back Super Bowls
Green Bay Packers and Bart Starr (1967-68)
- 1967: Packers 35, Chiefs 10
- 1968: Packers 33, Raiders 14
It’s fitting that the Packers, led by Vince Lombardi, were the first team to win back-to-back Super Bowls. Bart Starr led the Cheeseheads to consecutive Lombardi Trophies with wins over the Chiefs and Oakland Raiders in Super Bowls 1 and 2, respectively. Starrs earned MVP honors in both games, in which he threw for a combined 452 yards and three touchdowns.
NOTE: Starr led the Packers to three consecutive championships from 1965-67, but one of those came before the Super Bowl era began.
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Miami Dolphins and Bob Griese (1973-74)
- 1973: Dolphins 14, Redskins 7
- 1974: Dolphins 24, Vikings 7
The former Purdue Boilermaker led the Dolphins to three Super Bowl appearances in the 1970s under Hall of Fame coach Don Shula. Griese’s first Super Bowl win in 1973 capped off a perfect 17-0 season for the Dolphins, a record that still stands today. Unprecedentedly, Griese only completed a combined 14 pass attempts across both Super Bowls. His eight completions in Super Bowl 7 are the fewest in the Super Bowl era.
Pittsburgh Steelers and Terry Bradshaw (1975-76, 1979-80)
- 1975: Steelers 16, Vikings 6
- 1976: Steelers 21, Cowboys 17
- 1979: Steelers 35, Cowboys 31
- 1980: Steelers 31, Rams 19
Who could forget about the Pittsburgh Steelers and Terry Bradshaw in the 1970s? Nicknamed The Blond Bomber, Bradshaw won both Super Bowl 9 and Super Bowl 10 on game-winning touchdown passes. His fourth-quarter game-winning touchdown pass to wide receiver Lynn Swann in Super Bowl 10 remains one of the best moments in Super Bowl history.
Bradshaw, who threw for an impressive 932 yards and nine touchdowns in four Super Bowls, remains the only quarterback to have won back-to-back Lombardi Trophies twice.
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San Francisco 49ers and Joe Montana (1989-90)
- 1989: 49ers 20, Bengals 16
- 1990: 49ers 55, Broncos 10
Perhaps one of the closest comparisons between the Chiefs-Mahomes combo is that of the 49ers and Joe Montana, who went a perfect 4-0 in the big game across a decade.
Already with two titles on his resume, Montana led the 49ers to back-to-back Super Bowl titles in Super Bowl 23 and 24 in 1989 and 1990. In 1989, “Cool Joe” worked some “Montana Magic” with a 92-yard game-winning drive in the fourth quarter to defeat the Cincinnati Bengals.
Dallas Cowboys and Troy Aikman (1993-94)
- 1993: Cowboys 51, Bills 17
- 1994: Cowboys 30, Bills 13
Aikman operated one of the NFL’s most powerful and elusive offenses in NFL history, which also featured wide receiver Michael Irvin and running back Emmitt Smith.
The Hall of Famer was the first quarterback to win three Super Bowls in a span of four years in the 1990s, including consecutive titles in 1993-94. His 90 regular season wins during the ‘90s were most in NFL history at the time of his retirement.
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Denver Broncos and John Elway (1998-99)
- 1998: Broncos 31, Packers 24
- 1999: Broncos 34, Falcons 19
Elway led the Broncos to the franchise’s first Super Bowl title in 1998 with a 31-24 victory over the defending champion Packers in Super Bowl 32. One year later, he walked off into the sunset in a storybook-like ending, earning his second Lombardi Trophy along with Super Bowl MVP honors in Super Bowl 33 to end his career.
New England Patriots and Tom Brady (2004-05)
- 2004: Patriots 32, Panthers 29
- 2005: Patriots 24, Eagles 21
Brady is the quarterback whom Mahomes is chasing for "greatest of all time" status. This year also marks the 20th anniversary of Brady's start solidifying himself as a Hall of Famer, when he won his second and third Lombardi Trophies in back-to-back years.
In Super Bowl 38, Brady drove the Patriots down the field late in the fourth quarter to set up an Adam Vinatieri game-winning field goal to defeat the Carolina Panthers. He then followed up that performance a year later with 236 passing yards and two touchdowns in Super Bowl 39 to defeat the Philadelphia Eagles.
Brady remains the only quarterback to win a Super Bowl in three separate decades, and the last to win it in consecutive seasons — the latter feat Mahomes is hoping to match for the first time with a win in 2024.
