'I hope they do it': Members of '70s Steelers, past dynasty teams weigh in on Chiefs' 3-peat chase
The Kansas City Chiefs will have an unexpected fan Sunday when they attempt to win a record third consecutive Super Bowl.
“Mean” Joe Greene, considered the greatest player in Pittsburgh Steelers history and anchor of their four Super Bowl titles in six seasons during the 1970s, says he’s rooting for the Chiefs to accomplish what no other NFL franchise has been able to do.
“I’m pulling for the Kansas City Chiefs,” Greene said in an interview with TribLive. “I’m an AFC guy. I like the way they play. They bring a lot of excitement to the game.”
The Steelers of the 1970s became the first — and only — team to win back-to-back Super Bowls twice, but they couldn’t pull off a three-peat. The Chiefs will become the first if they defeat the Philadelphia Eagles in Super Bowl LIX in New Orleans. The game kicks off at 6:30 p.m.
Celebrating failure is a dish best served by the 1972 Miami Dolphins, the only team to achieve a perfect season. Surviving members of that team gather annually and drink champagne after the final unbeaten NFL team loses a game.
Greene won’t pop a cork if the Chiefs come up short, and neither will another of his Hall of Fame teammates from those ’70s Steelers.
“I would like to see them do it,” former linebacker Jack Ham told 105.9 FM. “Talk about the consummate team. Their defense is playing well, they are not explosive on offense, but they play close games and don’t make mistakes.”
The Chiefs became the ninth team in NFL history to win back-to-back Super Bowls when they defeated the San Francisco 49ers last season. They are the first to get back to the big stage with a chance to make it three in a row.
The Steelers were the first franchise to win the Super Bowl four times in a six-year span, claiming the Lombardi Trophy after the 1974, ’75, ’78 and ’79 seasons. The Chiefs are making their fifth appearance in a six-year span and can win their fourth title under head coach Andy Reid and quarterback Patrick Mahomes.
Would a win solidify the Chiefs as the greatest dynasty in NFL history?
“Over a period of time, yes,” Greene said. “The best ever? That’s always a hard thing for me to say because the teams you are measuring them against don’t have a chance to play against them.”
Although the Chiefs are trying to win the Super Bowl three years in a row, they wouldn’t be the first to win three consecutive league championships. The Green Bay Packers did it from 1929-31 — their run ending two years before the Steelers came into existence — and again in the 1960s.
The latter Packers group, coached by the legendary Vince Lombardi, won the final NFL championship game played before the Super Bowl era. The Packers then won the first two Super Bowl titles, which was called the NFL-AFL championship game at the time.
“To give one team those kind of accolades for all time, you’re saying other teams aren’t worth a damn,” Greene said. “You diminish what they did. I never wanted to diminish the Green Bay Packers. They won five real quick (in a seven-year span). Even though it wasn’t the Super Bowl, it was still football, and you won all the big games that you had to play.”
The Miami Dolphins were the first team to appear in three consecutive Super Bowls, but they lost that first appearance to Dallas before winning it all in the 1972 and ’73 seasons. The Dolphins lost the following year to the Oakland Raiders in the divisional round, and that helped pave the way for the Steelers to reach and win Super Bowl IX.
The Steelers’ dynasty 50 years ago happened before the era of free agency and the salary-cap system. With such little player movement, the Steelers had 22 players earn four Super Bowl rings. By contrast, the Chiefs have just five holdovers from their Super Bowl LIV championship team.
“The biggest difference between these teams and the teams of the ’70s, we drafted our Super Bowl teams,” Steelers’ Hall of Fame quarterback Terry Bradshaw told reporters at the Super Bowl. “Now they build them through the draft — or at least try to — and then they go get players (through free agency).”
“(Star wide receiver) Tyreek Hill isn’t happy, we’re shipping him to Miami. Who are we replacing him with? JuJu Smith-Schuster and whoever. He’s available, he’s available, and he’s available. We need a running back because ours has a broken leg? How about him?”
The Chiefs have thrived while building around a core that includes Mahomes, tight end Travis Kelce and defensive lineman Chris Jones, who each are chasing a fourth championship.
“It’s all of them, but when you’ve got Mahomes, everyone else is second,” Greene said of the three-time Super Bowl MVP. “The guy is talented, smart, he wants to win. All he wants to do is win. He’s team first, and it shows.”
The other constant is Reid, who can join the Steelers’ Chuck Noll and the New England Patriots’ Bill Belichick as coaches with at least four Super Bowl rings. Belichick has six.
“We try to focus on the game and keep it simple like that,” Reid said. “When you work hard, it keeps you focused more than so backing off. Our guys have done that since training camp. I’ve got a good locker room on top of that, some senior veterans. They don’t let things slide.”
In that respect, Reid has taken a page from Noll, who was a stickler for consistency and fundamentals carrying over from the practice field. He also relied on leaders such as Greene to police the locker room.
“Guys didn’t have big egos,” said former Steelers running back Rocky Bleier, who was part of four championship teams. “We had leadership on those teams that prevented big egos. We had players call out one another when things weren’t going well. Peer pressure is the biggest pressure one can go under. Not ownership pressure or coach pressure. If a teammate calls you out, you listen.”
After winning Super Bowls IX and X, the Steelers returned to the AFC championship game in 1976. They overcame a 1-4 start to win their final nine games — five by shutout. They beat Baltimore in the divisional round but lost running backs Franco Harris and Bleier to injuries. Short-handed at their offensive position of strength, the Steelers lost the conference title game to Oakland, 24-7.
“That was probably our best shot,” Ham said. “We were all about 25-26 years old. We were peaking and playing our best football.”
The Steelers never got a chance in 1980 to make a run at a three-peat. With their star players aging, the Steelers finished 9-7 and missed the playoffs for the first time since 1971.
Behind quarterback Joe Montana, the San Francisco 49ers won championships after the 1989 and ’90 seasons and reached the NFC title game in 1991 but lost to the New York Giants on a last-second field goal.
The Cowboys, with Troy Aikman at quarterback, beat the Buffalo Bills in consecutive Super Bowls after the 1992 and ’93 seasons to emerge as the next contender to win three in a row. Coach Jimmy Johnson, however, resigned amid a clash with owner Jerry Jones after that second championship.
The Cowboys reached the NFC championship game in 1994 under new coach Barry Switzer before losing to the 49ers.
“I know we had an extremely talented team,” Johnson said. “We had the youngest team in the NFL. And so a young team like that is only going to get better. One thing I’ve always prided myself in was acquiring talent and, in my opinion, I would have brought in some more players.”
The Cowboys returned to the Super Bowl the following season with Switzer as coach, defeating the Steelers to become the first franchise to win three in four seasons. It also marked the end of that dynasty. Dallas hasn’t been back to the conference championship game in 30 years.
“The fallout turned out to be catastrophic for us,” Cowboys’ Hall of Fame running back Emmitt Smith said.
Denver won back-to-back Super Bowls later in the 1990s, but quarterback John Elway retired after that second win and the Broncos went 6-10 the following season.
The 2000s brought the emergence of the first of New England’s two dynasties with quarterback Tom Brady bridging both runs. The Patriots also won three championships in a four-year span. In 2005, with a chance to win three in a row, New England lost to Denver in the divisional round. The Steelers won the franchise’s fifth championship that season after getting past the Broncos in the conference championship.
The Patriots won three Super Bowls in a five-year span from 2014-18 and lost a fourth appearance to Philadelphia.
Brady, who won a seventh ring with Tampa Bay, will be the game analyst Sunday for Fox Sports. He doesn’t begrudge Mahomes getting a chance to do a three-peat.
“Look, nobody would be more happy for you than me if you go out and you do something that no other team in history has ever done and no other quarterback’s ever done,” Brady told Mahomes. “I love seeing other people do great things.”
When Mahomes helped lead the Chiefs to a Super Bowl LIV victory in February 2020, it was the franchise’s first championship in 50 years. Five years later, the Chiefs are no longer lovable losers. They now have to fend off accusations that referee bias is playing a role in their victories.
“Every good story has to have a villain,” said the Chiefs’ Chris Jones, a three-time, first-team All-Pro selection. “People hate success. Over time, people like to see something different. They don’t like to see the same people winning. … From a fan standpoint, I get it. If I was on the outside, I’d say the same thing, that I’m sick of the Chiefs.”
Love ’em or hate ’em, the Chiefs have a chance to make history Sunday.
“I hope they do it,” Greene said.
Joe Rutter is a TribLive reporter who has covered the Pittsburgh Steelers since the 2016 season. A graduate of Greensburg Salem High School and Point Park, he is in his fifth decade covering sports for the Trib. He can be reached at jrutter@triblive.com.
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