Graney: Chiefs’ Super Bowl 3-peat would be greatest in any sport

History can be difficult to create. And so as the Chiefs try to become the first NFL team to win three straight Super Bowl titles when they face the Eagles on Sunday, it’s a fair question:

In which sport is it the hardest to three-peat?

And yet the answer is simple. It’s football and, well, it might not be close.

We have seen three-peats occur numerous times in the other three major men’s professional leagues. Such things also span globally into the soccer world. Individuals have three-peated in their respective sports. College teams as well.

But there are reasons no NFL team has won three straight Super Bowls.

(Yes, we know all about the Packers and winning the final NFL championship game and Super Bowls 1 and 2. Sorry. Doesn’t count in this particular era.)

How tough is it? The Chiefs are the first team to even make it back to the Super Bowl after winning two in a row.

There seems to be a dynasty every decade in basketball. Michael Jordan won three straight titles on two different occasions for the Bulls. Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal turned the trick for the Lakers.

Heck, the Celtics once eight-peated.

The NHL had three-peats in the 1940s, ‘50s, ‘60s, ‘70s and ‘80s.

Baseball had the Yankees of the ‘30s and late ‘40s/early 50s, the A’s of the ‘70s and the Yankees again of the late ‘90s/2000.

So those other three sports have figured it out.

But it’s not like that in football.

A team sport

“It will be something if we’re able to three-peat,” Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes said. “I just think everybody is focused on the ultimate goal and that’s just winning.

“We don’t care how it looks, we don’t care who gets the praise. We just want to win the football game. We have a lot of trust in this team, a lot of trust in each other. When there is an opportunity to go out and make a play, we trust the guy is going to do it.”

Which brings us to this: There might not be a more obvious team game than football.

Mahomes might be spectacular against the Eagles, but if Kansas City’s defense can’t stop Philadelphia, there is no guarantee of a three-peat.

Jordan and Bryant and O’Neal and others were amazing enough that they could carry their teams to championships. We’ve also seen such individual brilliance in baseball and hockey.

But as marvelous as Mahomes is, he still needs help to win it all.

That’s what has made it so difficult for any team to three-peat in the NFL. The number of players on both sides of the ball who need to perform at peak level for a championship is extensive.

There is also this: The NFL playoffs are like the NCAA Tournament. One-and-done.

You either win and advance or lose and go home. There is no best-of-seven series. You can’t play poorly for a game or two but still claim a title.

There is no more taxing a game on one’s body than football. And when you are a team like the Chiefs, who have now played until the end for three straight years, injuries and fatigue tend to crop up.

Which makes their reality all the more impressive.

The toughest sport

“Chasing history is all part of it,” Chiefs defensive tackle Chris Jones told reporters during training camp. “When a lot of players retire, they always say they want to leave the game better than when they started. If we can get this three-peat and continue adding to the legacy of the Kansas City Chiefs, I think that would be a huge accomplishment — not only for us but for the NFL.”

I’m not sure other teams care very much about whether the Chiefs win it all again.

But it would be something.

It’s obviously ultra tough to do.

The toughest of any sport.

History tells us so.

Ed Graney, a Sigma Delta Chi Award winner for sports column writing, can be reached at egraney@reviewjournal.com. He can be heard on “The Press Box,” ESPN Radio 100.9 FM and 1100 AM, from 7 to 10 a.m. Monday through Friday. Follow @edgraney on X.