There is a lot of NFL history on the line in Super Bowl LIX between the Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles. But nothing is bigger than the Chiefs’ opportunity to secure the Super Bowl three-peat, the story we’ve been covering for almost a year since they became a dynasty by defeating the 49ers in overtime of Super Bowl LVIII.

While the Chiefs secured their dynasty by repeating last year, they can take the title of the NFL’s best dynasty ever if they win this game.

That’s right. Going 4-1 in the Super Bowl in a 6-year span with a three-peat in an era that’s designed to prevent this would be the greatest team achievement in NFL history.

Most people thought this type of run would be impossible after the Patriots’ dynasty ended, but the Chiefs have copied some of their blueprint and are arguably doing a better job with it than New England ever did.

Now all bets are off if the Chiefs fall flat Sunday night against a very formidable Philadelphia team. But should the Chiefs pull off another win here, then the facts are hard to deny.

The Chiefs would be the NFL’s best dynasty.

Reviewing the Past NFL Dynasties

In order to make the case for the Chiefs as the NFL’s best dynasty, let’s remember their competition going back to the 1950s. Yes, with apologies to fans of the 1940s Chicago Bears, we are not considering anything pre-World War II and before segregation ended in the league.

The Cleveland Browns (1950-55)

Led by innovative coach Paul Brown and Hall of Fame quarterback Otto Graham, the Cleveland Browns were the NFL’s first true dynasty once they joined the league in 1950. They immediately proved their worthy by winning the 1950 NFL Championship Game against the Rams, then won two more championships in 1954-55 before Graham retired.

Those Cleveland teams were absolutely stacked on both sides of the ball with a long list of Hall of Famers. However, they lose a lot of dynasty points for two reasons for me.

First, they get too much credit for what they did in the AAFC, which was a rival league to the NFL that had worse quality of play, and the Browns absolutely dominated there by winning all four championships in 1946-49. But none of the AAFC statistics or records carry over to official NFL records.

The Browns were still obviously great when they moved from the AAFC to the NFL (as did the San Francisco 49ers) in 1950, but a lot of those AAFC players, including Graham, saw their statistics decline against NFL defenses.

The other factor is the Browns were just 3-3 in NFL Championship Games, winning as many times as they lost. They were even 1-3 before winning the last two to get back to .500, so that’s not very dynasty quality for a team that was 58-13-1 (.817) in the regular season.

The Green Bay Packers (1961-67)

The Packers were one of the worst teams in the NFL when head coach Vince Lombardi took the job in 1959. By his second season, he already had them playing for a championship, but the Packers came up short against Philadelphia in the 1960 NFL Championship Game.

That would be Lombardi’s only playoff loss as he reeled off nine straight postseason victories to win five championships during the period of 1961-67, which is still the gold standard for championship success in NFL history.

Lombardi helped quarterback Bart Starr become a MVP and Hall of Famer with some of the best passing efficiency marks in postseason history to this day. His teams were dominant on both sides of the ball and featured over a dozen Hall of Famers in the 1960s, including Jim Taylor, Herb Adderley, Ray Nitschke, Willie Davis, Forrest Gregg, Willie Wood, Henry Jordan, etc.

Technically, the Packers were the last NFL team to three-peat in the 1965-67 seasons, but that doesn’t get officially noticed the way the Chiefs are getting attention for the three-peat this year because they didn’t start calling it the Super Bowl until the 1966 season.

In fact, that three-peat shines a light on why the Packers may receive less attention than the dynasties that followed them. The NFL just wasn’t the same league from a competitive standpoint. Back then, you usually just had to win one championship game instead of being subjected to a true playoff system where you need to win multiple single-elimination games.

To start their three-peat run, the 1965 Packers had to play a rare tie-breaker playoff game against the Colts where a coin flip decided the Packers getting to play at home. Meanwhile, the Colts were forced to start a running back (Tom Matte) at quarterback because of injuries and rules prohibiting their veteran signings from playing in the game. Could you imagine that happening today?

It was a controversial game too. The Packers lost Starr to a rib injury on the first drive and trailed 10-0 before rallying to force overtime. However, kicker Don Chandler’s 22-yard field goal that forced overtime looks like it was wide right. See for yourself at the 1:34 mark:

Today in 1965: Despite Bart Starr's first-quarter injury and an early 10-0 deficit, Packers claim Western Conference playoff with a 13-10 OT win over Colts.

Don Chandler's controversial 22-yard field goal forces overtime, while his 25-yard boot moments later wins the game. pic.twitter.com/T1K8EXKc5W

— Packers History (@HistoricPackers) December 27, 2024

The Packers got Starr back and defeated Jim Brown and Cleveland in the title game. The following year, the NFL played the first ever Super Bowl with Green Bay defeating the AFL’s Kansas City Chiefs. A year later, they beat the Oakland Raiders to win the first two Super Bowls, but the AFL was not quite up to par in those early years before the 1970 merger.

The Packers were an aging team in that last title run, and Lombardi was no longer their coach in 1968, so they stopped winning. One of the best 7-year runs in history, but it did come at the expense of a league that was very much in transition.

The Pittsburgh Steelers (1974-79)

We think of the Pittsburgh Steelers as one of the most consistent winning teams in the NFL today, but they were an annual loser before the 1970s. But the seeds for change were planted in 1969 when the team signed head coach Chuck Noll and drafted Mean Joe Greene with the No. 4 pick. A year later, they used the No. 1 pick on quarterback Terry Bradshaw, then drafted the Rookie of the Year in 1972, a running back named Franco Harris.

That all led to the team’s first playoff win when Harris came down with The Immaculate Reception, one of the greatest plays in NFL history, to score a 60-yard touchdown in the final seconds to beat the Raiders in the AFC divisional round.

But people tend to forget that play did not lead to a Super Bowl as the Steelers lost at home a week later against the undefeated Dolphins in the AFC Championship Game. Yes, an 11-3 team got to host a 14-0 team in the title game because that’s how the format worked back then with rotating home sites. Very strange.

But that miracle win kicked off one of the greatest 8-year runs in NFL history as the Steelers made the playoffs every year from 1972-79, and they won their first Super Bowl in the 1974 season. They ended up repeating twice in 1974-75 and 1978-79, and their four Super Bowls in a 6-year span is something the Chiefs are trying to tie this week.

Led by Greene, the Steelers were an incredible defensive team that became known as the Steel Curtain. Cornerback Mel Blount was so dominant that they had to create an illegal contact rule that became known as the Mel Blount rule in 1978. All that did was help Bradshaw and his graceful wide receivers (Lynn Swann and John Stallworth) get better as Bradshaw was MVP in 1978 and always had big moments in going 4-0 in the Super Bowl.

The 1970s featured many potential dynasties as the Cowboys, Raiders, Vikings, Dolphins, and Rams all had really strong runs that decade. But by going 4-0 in the Super Bowl, including two critical wins over Tom Landry’s Dallas teams, the Steelers were undeniably the team of the decade.

By 1980, their core was getting older and they never seriously competed again until the Bill Cowher era in the 1990s.

Had the Steelers been able to prevent the 1972 Dolphins from going undefeated, or if they pulled off the three-peat in 1976 when their defense was so historically dominant, they would easily have a claim to being the greatest dynasty ever.

But it remains a debate today with the Steelers earning plenty of respect for their consistent winning and big-game performances in a tough era.

The San Francisco 49ers (1981-89)

The game was already shifting towards offense in the 1980s, and that was a perfect time for the mind of coach Bill Walsh to mesh with the talent and drive of quarterback Joe Montana in San Francisco. After a rough start, Walsh finally made Montana his full-time starter in 1981, and the team immediately had Super Bowl success with Walsh’s West Coast Offense taking the league by storm.

Montana had his first major NFL moment with Dwight Clark making “The Catch” to beat the Cowboys in the 1981 NFC Championship Game, and a dynasty was born. However, the 49ers did miss the playoffs with a 3-6 record in 1982, a strike-shortened year. They lost the NFC title game in Washington in 1983 after a controversial defensive penalty.

But the 49ers finished 18-1 in 1984, defeating Dan Marino’s Dolphins in the Super Bowl to cap off another great year. However, the dynasty was far from clinched at this point. The 49ers lost their next three playoff games in 1985-87, and the games weren’t even close with Montana playing terrible football as he dealt with injuries those years.

Montana also nearly lost his job to talented backup Steve Young, a future Hall of Famer, in 1988. But he rebounded and the team went on an unexpected Super Bowl run in 1988 with Montana leading the classic drive to take down the Bengals in one of the best Super Bowls ever played.

A year later, Walsh retired, but the 49ers had their most dominant season yet with Montana winning MVP with such a complete offense around him, led by wide receiver Jerry Rice, the best to ever do it. The 49ers dominated Denver in the Super Bowl by a 55-10 final score to win their fourth ring of the decade, clinching the dynasty and team of the decade label.

The 49ers had their chance to three-peat in 1990 in the NFC Championship Game against the Giants in San Francisco. But Montana was injured in that game and Roger Craig lost a fumble in the final minutes, leading to a loss. The 49ers went with Young in 1991 and didn’t win another Super Bowl until 1994 in a much different looking NFC.

The 1980s 49ers are definitely one of the best dynasties, but between missing the playoffs in 1982 and getting embarrassed three postseasons in a row in 1985-87, they leave some real eyesores on their resume for the claim to the best dynasty in NFL history.

There’s also a fact that the NFC was much better than the AFC for most of the 1980s and 1990s, and the 49ers took advantage of a conference that had a lot of great coaches and defenses, but Montana was about the only elite quarterback. The AFC had the elite quarterbacks who were saddled with the underwhelming defenses, and Montana picked apart some pretty soft Cincinnati and Miami defenses in his first three Super Bowl wins.

We know everyone was shredding the Broncos in the 1980s Super Bowls too. Phil Simms completed almost every pass he threw in the 1986 Super Bowl, and Doug Williams threw four touchdown passes in the second quarter alone in 1987 for Washington in a 42-10 rout.

That’s why Steve Young deserves less disrespect for only winning one Super Bowl in the 1990s. By the time he took over, he was facing NFC teams (Cowboys and Packers) who actually had Hall of Fame quarterbacks combined with great defenses and coaching. The Montana-led teams of the 80s really didn’t have to deal with that.

They were the standard in that era.

The Dallas Cowboys (1992-95)

The Dallas Cowboys, America’s Team, had fallen on some hard times in the 1980s. New owner Jerry Jones fired legendary coach Tom Landry, hired his buddy Jimmy Johnson from the college game, and the team used the No.1 pick on quarterback Troy Aikman in the 1989 draft.

But it was an in-season trade involving running back Herschel Walker that helped create a dynasty in Dallas. The Cowboys were 0-5 and traded Walker, considered their best player, to the Vikings in a trade that eventually involved the Chargers and 18 total players and draft picks.

It ended up giving Johnson and the Cowboys a haul of picks that led to acquiring the likes of Emmitt Smith, Russell Maryland, Darren Woodson, and Kevin Smith. Aikman eventually developed into a Hall of Fame quarterback with Smith in the backfield, Michael Irvin as his No. 1 wide receiver, and an elite offensive line.

The Cowboys were also a strong defensive team, and after winning a playoff game in 1991, they were ready for the Super Bowl by 1992, Year 4 of Johnson’s plan. They had to upset a very strong San Francisco team on the road in the championship game, then they scored 52 points against Buffalo in Super Bowl XXVII thanks to forcing nine turnovers.

A year later, the Cowboys did it again. They beat the 49ers in the title game in Dallas, then swept the Bills with a 30-13 Super Bowl win as Emmitt Smith won MVP honors after his regular-season MVP award.

But a rift between Johnson and Jones ensued, and Johnson left the NFL before the 1994 season, turning the job over to Barry Switzer, another college coach. The Cowboys still reached the NFC Championship Game, but they fell into a 21-0 hole in San Francisco thanks to turnovers that they couldn’t climb out of.

The Cowboys built their dynasty largely through the draft thanks to the Walker trade, but they also were doing much of their business before free agency took over in 1993 and the salary cap was added in 1994.

In 1995, the team acquired cornerback Deion Sanders, who was a key addition to the 1994 49ers to help that team win the Super Bowl. Deion helped the Cowboys back to the Super Bowl where it was corner Larry Brown who won MVP honors by picking off a colorblind Neil O’Donnell twice in the big game as the Cowboys finally beat the Steelers in a Super Bowl.

That allowed Dallas to become the first team to win three Super Bowls in a 4-year span, and a four-peat would have been very possible had they not messed up that opening quarter in San Francisco. The 1991-96 Cowboys were the first team in NFL history to win a playoff game in six consecutive seasons.

But the franchise peaked with Super Bowl XXX. In fact, the Cowboys have not played in the NFC Championship Game since that 1995 season. But their teams in the 90s were so dominant that they barely ever had to win close games. So, if you like domination and style points, the 1990s Cowboys might have been the best dynasty.

But you also have to acknowledge they had the shortest dynasty run too.

The New England Patriots 1.0 (2001-04) vs. 2.0 (2014-18)

The New England Patriots throw a wrench in the dynasty rankings since their run that produced a 6-3 Super Bowl record technically lasted two decades as they were the clear team of the decade for both the 2000s and 2010s. No one ever fully dethroned them, making it the longest dynasty run in NFL history.

However, there was also nearly a decade (2005-13) where they didn’t win a single Super Bowl while multiple teams won multiple championships, including the Giants twice getting past the Patriots in Super Bowls in 2007 and 2011. Between ring No. 3 (2004) and ring No. 4 (2014), the Patriots had more cheating scandals (Spygate and Deflategate) than rings.

That extended period of postseason failure was not very dynasty-like behavior, which is why you could and probably should argue the Patriots had two distinct dynasty runs in 2001-04 and 2014-18.

But through it all, there were two constants providing many happy endings for owner Robert Kraft: Coach Bill Belichick and quarterback Tom Brady.

By the time we get to the 21st century, the power of free agency and the salary cap has made its mark on the NFL. I’d say more than ever you needed to have your quarterback situation squared away, but that’s not necessarily true when in the period of 1999-2003, we saw quarterbacks excel from the oddest of backgrounds.

There were noteworthy quarterbacks who came to the NFL after playing in the Arena Football League (grocery store clerk Kurt Warner), playing in NFL Europe (Jake Delhomme), playing in Canada (Jeff Garcia and Doug Flutie), and playing in Vince McMahon’s XFL (Tommy Maddox).

There were journeymen latching onto great defenses (Trent Dilfer and Brad Johnson), and a quarterback who the league once tried to convert to safety won MVP at age 37 (Rich Gannon).

It was a wild time, and then there was also the 199th pick in the 2000 draft, a Michigan bloke named Tom Brady, who had one of the worst combine performances of any quarterback prospect. But new coach Bill Belichick, who spurred the Jets after one day on the job before heading to New England, saw something in Brady to keep him around as the fourth quarterback on the roster his rookie year.

Even though the Patriots just gave starter Drew Bledsoe a $103 million extension for the next decade, the 2001 season became Brady’s origin story. In the first game after 9/11, Bledsoe was injured on a rare scramble, paving the way for Brady to take over. Even when Bledsoe was healthy enough to return and the Pats at .500, Belichick stuck with Brady, who rewarded him with a Super Bowl run.

Well, technically it was kicker Adam Vinatieri who saved the day with the greatest clutch field goal in NFL history in the snow against the Raiders. Even more technical, it was referee Walt Coleman who saved the dynasty by badly applying the Tuck Rule on a season-ending fumble by Brady before the field goal happened. But we already covered last week how the Patriots are the only NFL dynasty to have the officials set the foundation for their success.

Similar to the 1980s 49ers, the Patriots didn’t immediately defend their title well by missing the playoffs on a tiebreaker in 2002. But they finished a league-best 14-2 in 2003 with Belichick flexing his coaching muscles by dragging a very injured roster with a limited offense and elite defense all the way to another Super Bowl win.

Then in 2004, the Patriots added Corey Dillon to the backfield, Brady threw downfield more, and they had their most complete, most doubt-free championship season in their entire run to clinch a dynasty with a 9-0 playoff record.

But then there was the 9-year gap without a championship. They blew a golden opportunity in 2006 with Rex Grossman and the Beara awaiting them in the Super Bowl. The Patriots blew a 21-3 lead to Peyton Manning’s Indianapolis team in the AFC Championship Game, convincing them to start acquiring more elite talent on the offensive side of the ball, leading to Randy Moss, Wes Welker, and Donte Stallworth joining the Patriots for the 2007 season.

But at the start of that season, the Jets helped expose the Spygate scandal with the Patriots recording opponent signals for what was reportedly dozens of games going back to Belichick’s first season with the team. That did not phase the team as it rolled into Super Bowl XLII with a 19-0 perfect season on the line. But the other Manning brother took the Patriots down with a game-winning drive in a 17-14 upset.

A quarter into the first game of the 2008 season, Brady tore his ACL and was lost for the season. Eventually, the team drafted tight end Rob Gronkowski in 2010 and continued with their offensive approach after the early dynasty years were built on smart offense, elite defense, and great special teams. Julian Edelman replaced Wes Welker’s role as slot receiver in 2013, and he became one of the most clutch playoff performers in NFL history.

But Belichick’s teams were always well coached in all three phases. The elite talent just shined more on offense in the 2010s, but the defense was not as stout as the 2001-06 era. The Patriots lost a couple of AFC Championship Games in Denver to rival Peyton Manning. But once he retired in 2016, that opened the doors for another run of dominance in the AFC by New England with no one else stepping up to fill that void.

The other big difference between Dynasty 2.0 and Dynasty 1.0 in New England is that 2.0 became such a tough team to put away even if you were up double digits. The 2014 Seahawks (24-14 in the fourth quarter) and 2016 Falcons (28-3) soon found out the hard way in two high-profile Super Bowls that got the Patriots back on track as a dynasty.

Denying the Seahawks, who had their own dynasty in mind, a repeat in 2013-14 was one of the most important games in NFL history with Malcolm Butler making the biggest interception in NFL history to put the game away. The 28-3 comeback was also a pivotal win as it gave Brady his fifth Super Bowl ring, surpassing every other quarterback and giving the team its signature win.

While the Patriots lost Super Bowl LII to the Eagles in a stunner, they had one more in them for the 2018 season when they gutted out another tight one in Kansas City against a young Patrick Mahomes in the AFC Championship Game. They held the Rams to a field goal in Super Bowl LIII and it was the last hurrah for the dynasty as Gronk retired (for the first time) and the team declined in the second half of 2019 before Brady left for Tampa Bay in 2020, ending the dynasty.

Throughout their run, the Patriots won six Super Bowls, nine AFC Championship Games, and 17 division titles. They set records by winning 11 straight division titles (2009-19) and appearing in eight straight AFC Championship Games (2011-18).

It was often said we’d never see this kind of run again, but little did we know the Kansas City Chiefs were planting the seeds of their own dynasty even while the New England run was in progress.

The Kansas City Chiefs (2019-Present)

The irony of Kansas City ending the New England dynasty is that many thought that already happened on September 29, 2014.

The Patriots were coming up on a full decade since their last championship, and they just got rocked 41-14 on a Monday night at Arrowhead by Andy Reid’s Chiefs to start 2-2. That was the game that led to Belichick being asked about the quarterback position, which just made him scoff. “We’re onto Cincinnati” became his famous quote that week.

This led to many saying the Patriots’ dynasty was dead and that Brady was washed up. But all that did was fuel the team to go on another run where they won three more Super Bowls in 2014-18.

Meanwhile, the Chiefs were a paper tiger in Reid’s early seasons with Alex Smith at quarterback. They blew a 38-10 lead to Andrew Luck’s Colts in the 2013 AFC wild card game. Despite beating both Super Bowl teams (Patriots and Seahawks) in the 2014 season, the Chiefs finished 9-7 and missed the playoffs. They turned a 1-5 start into an 11-5 finish in 2015, but that team was exposed as fraudulent in New England in a 27-20 loss where Reid’s clock management was questioned again.

Chiefs just cracked Broncos D in Denver, outscored Falcons O in Atlanta and swept the Raiders. This is Reid's best squad yet.

— Scott Kacsmar (@ScottKacsmar) December 9, 2016

The Chiefs looked more legitimate in 2016 with several impressive wins, but then they lost 18-16 at home to the Steelers despite not allowing a touchdown. That game was the impetus for drafting Patrick Mahomes in the first round of the 2017 draft. While Smith had his best season in 2017 while Mahomes sat as a rookie, the Chiefs again blew a 21-3 lead at home in the playoffs to the Titans.

That one hurt because that was another chance for the Chiefs to stop the New England dynasty in its tracks. The Chiefs went into Gillette Stadium on opening night in the 2017 season and scored 42 points with rookie running back Kareem Hunt dominating in his NFL debut.

That should have been the rematch in the divisional round, but the Chiefs couldn’t get past the Titans. All that did was signal it was time for Mahomes to take over in 2018, which he did in historic fashion with 50 touchdown passes, the MVP award, and a No. 1 seed.

Had Dee Ford not lined up offsides in that 2018 AFC Championship Game against the Patriots, who knows what things look like today. But I would still argue that loss was necessary for Kansas City, because it made the team replace defensive coordinator Bob Sutton with Steve Spagnuolo. If that doesn’t happen, we might not be talking about a dynasty in Kansas City today.

Spagnuolo immediately improved the defense in 2019, and that was still probably the most balanced, talented roster the Chiefs have had during this run. Not surprisingly, it resulted in their first Super Bowl win against the 49ers. They tried to repeat in 2020 after the starters lost one game all season (sound familiar?), but a reshuffled offensive line was their undoing in Super Bowl 55 against the Buccaneers in a 31-9 rout.

A year later, the Chiefs blew a 21-3 lead at home to the Bengals in the AFC Championship Game after Mahomes played the worst half of his career. The Chiefs traded Tyreek Hill in 2022, and this had many jumping off the Kansas City bandwagon.

However, Mahomes showed he can throw it quicker and shorter and still lead the best offense in the league as he won his second MVP. The Chiefs finished 14-3, another No. 1 seed, and they won the Super Bowl even with Mahomes suffering a high-ankle sprain in the first playoff game.

The Chiefs leaned more on the best defense they’ve had in the Mahomes era in 2023 for the repeat, which ended the longest drought in NFL history without a repeat champion. But they proved they can win road playoff games after taking down the Bills and Ravens, and it was the offense who had the final say in overtime of Super Bowl LVIII against the 49ers with a walk-off touchdown.

Kansas City’s journey to the three-peat has been the defining story of the 2024 NFL season. You wouldn’t want to have to win so many close games, go through four left tackles, three kickers, and accidentally tear your No. 1 wideout’s ACL on a tackle, but the Chiefs are back in the Super Bowl and one win away from immortality.

They said the Patriots’ run wouldn’t be duplicated, but the Chiefs are working on 10 straight playoff appearances, 9 straight division titles, and 7 straight AFC Championship appearances. All of those marks rank second all time behind only the Patriots. Their 12 straight winning seasons under Reid will also look to crack the top three someday that includes the 1983-98 49ers (16 seasons), the 2001-19 Patriots (19 seasons), and the 1966-85 Cowboys (20 seasons).

The Chiefs just find ways to win, which is what teams like the 49ers and Patriots were credited for. The Chiefs deserve the same credit, because they have quite arguably done it better than anybody ever has.

The Chiefs’ Case Is Consistently Competing for Championships at the Highest Class

If you like your dynasty to be dominant on both sides of the ball, the Chiefs might be your last choice. Their success has been largely dependent on Mahomes and Reid’s offense.

If you want style points, the Chiefs are not going to be your first choice as they have played a lot of grinding one-score games the last several years.

If your top dynasty must be a team that went undefeated in championship games, the Chiefs are not your pick again. Though, you should probably ask yourself why you prefer going one-and-done in an early round (or missing the playoffs entirely) over hosting a title game or losing in the Super Bowl.

But if you want your best dynasty to be a team that realistically could have won the Super Bowl every year for a six or seven-year window, then you can’t go wrong with the Mahomes-era Chiefs, who have been rewriting the record books ever since he took over.

Here is just a sampling of the NFL records the Chiefs have set during the Mahomes era:

• Most consecutive seasons with multiple playoff wins: 6 (active; 2019-24)
• Most consecutive wins in games decided by one score: 17 games (active; 2023-present).
• Most consecutive games won by 1-to-7 points: 7 games (3-way tie between 1996 Jaguars, 2020 Chiefs, and 2023-24 Chiefs).
• Most consecutive games without losing by more than 8 points: 60 games (2017-20 Chiefs), 14 games better than No. 2.
• Most consecutive games without losing by more than 7 points: 49 games (2017-20 Chiefs), 3 games better than No. 2.
• Most consecutive games without losing by more than 4 points: 40 games (2021-23 Chiefs), 6 games better than No. 2.
• Most games won in a regular season against playoff teams: 7 wins (4-way tie between 1997 Packers, 1998 Jets, 2024 Chiefs, and 2024 Ravens).
• Most road wins in a regular season against winning teams: 5 wins (3-way tie between 2020 Chiefs, 2023 Jaguars, and 2023 49ers).
• First team to appear in 5-of-6 Super Bowls (2019-2024).
• First team to appear in third-straight Super Bowl after a repeat championship (2022-24).
• Only team to win three consecutive playoff games by double digits after trailing by double digits (2019).
• Only team to win a playoff game by 20 points after trailing by at least 20 points (2019 vs. Texans; trailed 24-0, won 51-31).
• Only team to host a Conference Championship Game in five consecutive seasons (2018-22).
• Only team in NFL history to throw a walk-off touchdown pass to win a championship (2023 Super Bowl vs. 49ers).
• Mahomes is the only quarterback with multiple touchdown passes in overtime in the NFL postseason (vs. 2021 Bills and 2023 49ers).
• Best record in any 20-game span of postseason games: 17-3 (2018-2024).
• Most consecutive seasons with a 5-game winning streak: 12 (active; 2013-24); no other team has more than a 7-season streak.
• Most consecutive games without a turnover: 8 games (2024).
• Most consecutive games scoring 26+ points, playoffs included: 22 games (2018-19).
• Most consecutive games scoring 23+ points, playoffs included: 25 games (2019-20; replaced the 2018-19 Chiefs’ record of 22 games).
• Most consecutive road games in the division scoring 23+ points: 24 games (2018-22); old record was 10 games.
• Most games in a season (playoffs included) allowing fewer than 25 points: 20 games (2023).
• Only team to allow fewer than 28 points in all 21 games of a season (2023; previous record was 19 games).
• Only team to allow 35 points in a Super Bowl win (W 38-35 vs. 2022 Eagles in Super Bowl 57).
• Only team to allow 25.0 points per game in the postseason and still win the Super Bowl (twice; 2019 Chiefs and 2022 Chiefs).
• Only team to beat four teams with a +100 scoring differential in the same postseason (2023).
• Patrick Mahomes is the only quarterback to lead the NFL in passing yards and win the Super Bowl in the same season (2022).
• The 2022 Chiefs are the only team in NFL history to hold a fourth-quarter lead in all 20 games in a season.

When your floor is 11 regular-season wins and overtime of the AFC Championship Game for seven straight years, that is a ridiculous standard that no one can compare to.

• The Packers didn’t qualify for the championship game in 1963 and were just 8-5-1 in 1964 before their three-peat.
• The Steelers lost consecutive playoff games by multiple touchdowns in 1976 and 1977 (finished 9-5).
• The 49ers were 3-6 in 1982 and 0-3 in the playoffs in 1985-87.
• The Cowboys may have been in the NFC Championship Game four years in a row (1992-95), but they haven’t been that far in the nine seasons preceding that run nor have they been back in the 29 seasons since.
• The Patriots missed the playoffs in 2002 and went nearly a decade before winning their fourth ring while blowing playoff games as a huge favorite to Eli Manning (twice) and Mark Sanchez (2010).

The Chiefs pass the eye test too.

Mahomes is having the best 8-year start ever and could easily go down as the best to ever do it. Travis Kelce is at worst a top two tight end in NFL history, if not the best ever. Andy Reid is one of the best coaches in NFL history. Chris Jones is an elite defensive tackle who will be in the Hall of Fame. Harrison Butker is one of the best clutch kickers in the game’s history. Steve Spagnuolo is a legendary defensive coordinator and the only one with four rings.

They may not have a long list of Hall of Famers, but that’s how the league is these days. You can’t stockpile great players forever, which is why they’ve parted ways with Orlando Brown Jr., Tyreek Hill, Tyrann Mathieu, L’Jarius Sneed, etc. and they continue winning at the highest level anyway.

If you want to argue the Chiefs have access to technology, medical, and travel advantages that the 60s Packers and 70s Steelers didn’t have, then just remember one thing. So do their opponents.

All of these teams had to play within the same framework of the league that their rivals dealt with. The 2000s Patriots had to navigate the cap and free agency just as the Colts, Steelers, Ravens, and Chargers did that decade. The 1980s 49ers did not have to worry about those things, just like the Giants, Bears, Redskins, and Broncos didn’t have to.

In each case, one team prevailed over the field. In Kansas City’s case, they have done arguably the best job of any dynasty at limiting their rivals’ success. We already touched on this before the season in the Chiefs’ 2024 preview.

We mentioned earlier how Montana had a big advantage in the 80s with the best quarterbacks being saddled with subpar defenses in the AFC, and the great defenses in the NFC were saddled with underwhelming quarterbacks like Jim McMahon and Phil Simms.

That’s not the case for Mahomes. He became a full-time starter in 2018, the same year Josh Allen (Bills) and Lamar Jackson (Ravens) started their runs. You throw in Joe Burrow (Bengals) and Justin Herbert (Chargers) in the 2020 draft, and Mahomes has to go up against many of the best quarterbacks in the game, and the Bills and Ravens have also been some of the strongest defensive teams in this time.

That’s why the Bills and Ravens have some of the best scoring differential numbers in history for stretches of five or six years that didn’t result in a single Super Bowl appearance since the Chiefs keep getting in their way. The Bills are now 0-4 against the Chiefs in the playoffs, and the Chiefs have claimed four No. 1 seeds since 2018 compared to none for Buffalo and two for Baltimore.

If you’re going by the Brady and New England timeline, his seventh year starting, those teams already watched Ben Roethlisberger (2005 Steelers) and Peyton Manning (2006 Colts) win rings on their watch. They were just about to blow a Super Bowl to Eli Manning and the Giants too, one of the weakest teams statistically to ever play a Super Bowl.

That’s yet another advantage for the Chiefs. In five Super Bowls, they have drawn the toughest opponent each time with a stacked Tampa Bay team with Tom Brady that got to play the game in Tampa Bay, two elite 49ers teams (2019 and 2023), and two elite Philadelphia teams (2022 and 2024).

• The Chiefs aren’t getting AFL franchises that aren’t even in the same league like the Packers drew in the first two Super Bowls.
• The Chiefs aren’t trying to win their fourth ring against a 9-win Rams team with Vince Ferragamo at quarterback like the Steelers drew in 1979.
• They’re not getting the 1980s Bengals with their subpar defenses or the overwhelmed Broncos like the 49ers had.
• Say what you will about Jimmy Garoppolo or Brock Purdy, but neither threw the game away like Neil O’Donnell did against Dallas in Super Bowl XXX.
• The Patriots barely edged out a Carolina team with Jake Delhomme in their second run (2003) and they were fortunate that the 2016 Falcons were one of the worst defensive teams in Super Bowl history, making 28-3 more realistic given that franchise’s reputation for choking.

The Chiefs couldn’t overcome Tampa Bay’s super team with their offensive line issues, but they still found a way to outdo Kyle Shanahan’s Avengers offense and a top defense led by Nick Bosa. They got past the 70-sack Eagles two years ago and now it’s up to slowing down Saquon Barkley and a better defense this time for a team that’s lost once since October.

You are witnessing historical greatness with the Chiefs. You can choose to embrace it, root for them to fall, or be the dork who complains about the refs.

But hopefully most of us will be tuning in Sunday night to see if the three-peat is achieved or not. If they don’t pull it off, then that hurts their argument for the best dynasty as they lose the huge advantage the three-peat provides. Of course, they’re still not going away as long as they have Mahomes, so it could just be a temporary setback like 2020-21 were.

If they do pull off the three-peat, then what argument is left against them as the best dynasty in NFL history besides the one that makes you sound like you should be wearing a tinfoil hat?

Win or lose, the Chiefs are one of the most historical teams we’ve ever seen.

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