Chiefs repeat a treacherous task



[ad_1]

Maybe we should start with the teams that does not have Repeat as Super Bowl champions this couldn’t win the title in two stages as they include some of the great teams of all time and they provide a blueprint for how far the road back to glory can be perfidious.

Take the bears from 1986. In ’85 they went 18-1 and rolled through the Patriots at Super Bowl 20. They had it all, both sides of the ball, even though Buddy Ryan had fled for Philly after getting a ride. of his defense at the Superdome. They’ve won 14 of 16 games and actually allowed 11 points behind the team of 85, and would have hosted the NFC title game against the Giants… except Washington crushed them 27-13 at Soldier Field this week. previous. Da Bears hit Da Wall.

Take the 2000 Rams, heirs to the Greatest Show on Turf that trashed the NFL the year before, who actually scored 14 more points than their high-flying predecessors once offensive genius Mike Martz succeeded Dick Vemeil, but no couldn’t get by. the first round the following year, giving the Saints the first playoff victory in their so far tortured Big Easy history.

Take the 2014 Seahawks, who strangled the Broncos in the Super Bowl the year before, 43-8, who pulled off their regular season and pulled off a miracle comeback against the Packers in the NFC title game and were put in place – perfectly – second and goal of 1, time is running out against the Patriots … before the draw of Russell Wilson finds the arms of Malcolm Butler before those of Ricardo Lockette.

Hear from the men who could not do this:

“Sometimes,” said Mike Ditka on January 3, 1987, “the best team don’t win.”

“We thought we were going to catch fire and ride again,” Kurt Warner said on Dec. 30, 2000. “But sometimes soccer can be a fun game.”

“It’s hard to repeat,” Pete Carroll said on Feb. 1, 2015. “Real-world example.”

Andy Reid and Patrick Mahomes
Andy Reid and Patrick Mahomes
AP

So you see what the Kansas City Chiefs are up against now, with the opportunity for them to repeat as NFL champions. Only seven franchises have managed to do so, a total of eight times since Green Bay became the first, winning Super Bowls I and II in Los Angeles and Miami, at a time when the Pack believed they could beat all comers.

“Winning when the whole world doesn’t want anything to knock you off an ankle or two is the best there is,” Vince Lombardi said on Jan. 14, 1968, when his Packers – just 9-4-1 in season regular, who had barely escaped Dallas in the Ice Bowl – beat Oakland 33-14. “None of this is easy. Nothing.”

The 72-year-old Dolphins were 17-0, and yet it was the following year’s team that lost twice, which could have been the best of back-to-back Miami teams. As much as Kansas City’s passing game makes people shake their heads, so does the ground fish and pound of Larry Csonka, Mercury Morris and Jim Kiick, and though the 1972 team struggled in the playoffs, the repeaters of 73 outscored the Bengals, Raiders and Vikings 85-33.

“Maybe we’ll do it again next year,” Csonka cracked after accepting his MVP trophy, and as we know no team has ever done that, has never been 3-for-3. The Steelers have come close – winning four of six titles between 1974 and 1979, and they’re the only team to return twice in a row, and they’ve spread the wealth among their Hall of Famers group – Franco Harris and Lynn Swann have won. Super Bowl MVP the first time around, Terry Bradshaw winning the trophy each of the second two.

“I’m not going to say we’re the best team ever,” said Mean Joe Greene, the heart of the Steel Curtain defense, Jan.20, 1980, after the Steelers dismissed the Rams 31- 19 for No. 4. “But I don’t mind that we’re in this conversation for a very, very long time.”

As impressive as those first four reps were, the last four were probably more unlikely, as they all happened after the NFL economy started to change, when the parity began to partner with the office of the league through free agency and salary cap. When the 49ers rehearsed in 1988 and ’89 they had the same star power (Joe Montana, Jerry Rice, Ronnie Lott) but different coaches, Bill Walsh first, then George Seifert.

And by the time the Cowboys (1992-93), Broncos (1997-98), and Patriots (2003-04) each pulled out their two irons, there was a feeling, each time, we might never see that again. In truth, when the Brady-Belichick partnership beat the Eagles for the third of their six titles in Jacksonville on February 6, 2005, the coach, a seasoned football historian, understood what that moment meant.

“You need a lot of good coaches, a lot of great players and a little bit of luck,” Bill Belichick said that day, and many thought this might be the last back to back we have. never seen. And it could still be, unless the Chiefs decide to change the schedule this Sunday against Tampa. With Tom Brady standing in their way, serving as the story’s honorary porter. Of course.

[ad_2]

Source link