Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs keep finding themselves on one side of a Super Bowl rematch.
A year after beating the San Francisco 49ers for the second time in five seasons in the NFL's championship game, Mahomes and the Chiefs will square off against the Philadelphia Eagles for the second Super Bowl in the past three seasons.
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Kansas City won the first meeting 38-35 in Glendale, Arizona, and will try to pull off another Super Bowl sweep on Feb. 9 in New Orleans.
“This is a great football team (that) we’re playing,” Mahomes said. “They’re great on offense, they’re great on defense and special teams. We played them in a close Super Bowl a couple years ago, but they’ve added players and got even better, so it’ll take our best football to win.”
More than 40 players who participated in that nail-biter two years ago are projected to be on the field next week including stars like Mahomes, Travis Kelce and Chris Jones for Kansas City and Jalen Hurts, Lane Johnson and A.J. Brown for Philadelphia.
Many played big roles in the last Super Bowl meeting. Hurts rushed for three TDs and threw a 45-yard scoring strike to Brown, while Mahomes threw three TD passes, including one to Kelce, Nick Bolton returned a fumble for a touchdown and Harrison Butker kicked the game-winning field goal with 8 seconds left.
There have only been nine Super Bowl rematches in the previous 58 games, with just four happening in a five-year span before this rematch. The winners of those three rematches were the teams that won the first meeting.
Here’s a look at the other times there was a Super Bowl rematch within five seasons of the first meeting:
Chiefs vs. 49ers
Mahomes rallied Kansas City from a 10-point deficit in the fourth quarter for a 31-20 win in Super Bowl 54, with his biggest play being a 44-yard pass on third-and-15 to Tyreek Hill that sparked the comeback.
The 49ers kept it even closer last season in a back-and-forth game that featured three go-ahead scoring drives led by Brock Purdy in the fourth quarter or overtime. But it wasn't enough to topple Mahomes.
Mahomes engineered two late game-tying field goal drives in regulation. He then took advantage of San Francisco coach Kyle Shanahan's decision to start overtime with the ball by responding to a field goal by the Niners with a walk-off 3-yard TD pass to Mecole Hardman for Kansas City's third title in this current run.
Giants vs. Patriots
Eli Manning and the Giants spoiled New England’s bid for a perfect season in 2007 and then pulled off the upset again four years later.
The Patriots came into Super Bowl 42 with an 18-0 record and were on the brink of matching the perfect season of the 1972 Dolphins when Tom Brady threw a 6-yard TD pass to Randy Moss to make it 14-10 with 2:42 to go.
But Manning drove New York down the field — with help from David Tyree’s helmet catch — and threw a game-winning TD to Plaxico Burress to stun New England.
Manning did it again in the 2011 season, driving to a game-winning touchdown with 57 seconds left for a 21-17 win.
Cowboys vs. Bills
Dallas and Buffalo had the only Super Bowl rematch in consecutive seasons, meeting at the end of the 1992 and 1993 campaigns.
The Cowboys got the best of both.
They used nine takeaways and four TD passes from Troy Aikman to hand the Bills a 52-17 loss in Super Bowl 27.
The rematch was closer but had the same result. James Washington returned a fumble for a TD early in the third quarter to tie the game and Emmitt Smith ran for two TDs in the second half for a 30-13 win.
Steelers vs. Cowboys
The Cowboys were on the wrong end of a Super Bowl rematch in the 1970s, losing to the Steelers following the 1975 and 1978 seasons.
Dallas became the first wild-card team to reach the title game in Super Bowl 10 thanks to a desperation pass to beat Minnesota and a blowout against the Rams.
But they fell short against the Steel Curtain in the second second-half in Super Bowl history. Pittsburgh got a safety, two field goals and a 64-yard touchdown catch by Super Bowl MVP Lynn Swann in the fourth quarter of a 21-17 win to complete back-to-back titles for the Steelers.
Pittsburgh won again three years later in the first Super Bowl rematch to deny Dallas back-to-back championships.
MVP Terry Bradshaw threw four TD passes and Jackie Smith dropped a potential touchdown for Dallas. Roger Staubach’s late rally fell short and the Steelers won their third Super Bowl title 35-31.
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