When you sign-up through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Learn more >
Getting to the Super Bowl is the most difficult feat to accomplish in the NFL, with some teams – like the Cleveland Browns, the Detroit Lions, the Houston Texans, and the Jacksonville Jaguars – having never even made an appearance.
In all the NFL seasons that the Super Bowl has been played, only three times has the same football franchise made it to the Big Game three years in a row.
The Miami Dolphins did it from 1971 to 1973, the Buffalo Bills from 1990 to 1993, and the New England Patriots have done it from 2016 to 2018.
Beginner friendly
Fantastic odds
Bet $20 Win $200 in Free Bets
21+ CO, VA, MI Only | Terms and conditions apply
For many reasons, one of the main ones being the way the NFL has set up their salary cap system, which makes it extremely difficult to build up a so-called ‘super-team’ made up of high-priced superstars.
But even if you could do that, an NFL super-team wouldn’t have the same effect on the league as, say, an NBA super-team, since, with the exception of the quarterback, the nature of the game of football minimizes the impact each of the team’s eleven on-field players has overall.
Yet somehow, the Dolphins, the Bills and the Patriots all figured out how to beat the system three seasons in a row with Super Bowl appearances.
Tough to say specifically, but it’s safe to say it has a lot to do with a special combination of players, coaching staff and front office.
Below, we briefly examine those three factors for each of the three-season Super Bowl runs of the Dolphins, Bills and Patriots.
One thing is clear: each of these franchises has and will produce multiple Hall-of-Famers, some whose names we’ve heard repeatedly and others who have remained virtually anonymous to this day.
Super Bowl Appearances:
Regular Season, Postseason records:
Head coach: Don Shula
Quarterback(s): Bob Griese / Earl Morrall
Owner: Joe Robbie
General Manager: Unlisted
Hall of Famers from those three Dolphins teams: head coach Don Shula, offensive lineman Jim Langer, fullback Larry Csonka, wide receiver Paul Warfield, linebacker Nick Buoniconti, player personnel director Bobby Beathard.
After losing in the Super Bowl in 1971, head coach Don Shula “stressed in the locker room…that we wanted to make sure this wouldn’t happen again. Our goal was not to go to the Super Bowl but to win it.”
In Week 5 of the 1972 season, star quarterback Bob Griese broke his leg, so veteran backup Earl Morrall stepped up and continued the Dolphins’ win streak until Griese could play again.
The 1972 Dolphins team was the only NFL team to win the Super Bowl with a perfect season, going 14-0 in the regular season and 3-0 in the postseason.
There is an urban legend that every season since 1972, as soon as the very last undefeated NFL team is beaten, all the surviving members of that undefeated Dolphins team crack open a bottle of champagne and share a toast.
Super Bowl Appearances:
Regular Season, Postseason records:
Head coach: Marv Levy
Quarterback: Jim Kelly
Owner: Ralph Wilson
General Manager(s): Bill Polian, John Butler
Hall of Famers from those four Bills teams: head coach Marv Levy, quarterback Jim Kelly, running back Thurman Thomas, wide receivers James Lofton and Andre Reed, defensive end Bruce Smith and general manager Bill Polian.
Is it better to have never gone to the Super Bowl than to have lost in it four times in a row like the Buffalo Bills have?
That’s the question that haunts the Bills ever since their string of four Big Game losses in the early 90’s.
Levy is the winningest coach in Bills’ history, however, recording a regular season record of 112-70 and a playoff record of 11-8 in eleven total seasons.
In 2006, owner Ralph Wilson hired Levy, at the age of 80, to be the General Manager and Vice President of Football Operations for the Buffalo Bills, and to eliminate any speculation, Wilson was very clear that Levy, “will never be the coach.”
Super Bowl Appearances:
Regular Season, Postseason records:
Head coach: Bill Belichick
Quarterback: Tom Brady
Owner: Robert Kraft
General Manager: Bill Belichick
Certain Hall of Famers from those Patriots teams: head coach Bill Belichick, quarterback Tom Brady
Longer shot Hall of Fame Players from those Patriots teams: tight end Rob Gronkowski, slot receiver Julian Edelman, running back Sony Michel, owner Robert Kraft
The New England Patriots have been to the Super Bowl eleven times (the most of all NFL teams).
There have been two additional times where the Patriots could have played in the Big Game three seasons in a row – had they gone to the Super Bowl in 2002 and 2015.
As it stands, they’ve been in four of the last five Super Bowls, and nine of the last eighteen.
It obviously takes quite a bit of Hall-of-Fame caliber talent to get to the Super Bowl three seasons in a row, but it also requires the ability to make the most out of all those mid-level players on the roster, to get each of them to play at a Hall-of-Fame level.
That’s part of the genius of Shula, Levy and Belichick – to be able to consistently pull the most out of their players, especially the ones that other teams have for various reasons passed on.
Who knows when it will happen again?
Free play options
Special contests for newbies
Bet $5 Get $200 in Bonus Bets
21+ | Terms and conditions apply
Wide range of betting options
Top notch customer service
Promo Code 'SPORTS'
$500 Free Bet
21+ | VA only | Gambling problem? Call 1-800-532-3500
Now that the Belichick/Brady run is complete, which team will be the next to make three-in-a-row Super Bowl appearances?
The Jalen Hurts Los Angeles Rams?
The Patrick Mahomes Kansas City Chiefs?
While we’re on the subject, we’d also like to invite you to read our article about all the known future Super Bowl locations.
Regardless of which team we’re talking about, even one Super Bowl appearance is a major lifetime achievement, but to do it three times in a row is purely magical.
And whether you loved or hated the Belichick/Brady Patriots, maybe you can at least respect the fact that they did something magical that only two other teams in the history of the league have been able to do before.
It’ll be years before we see their kind of NFL magic again.
Bet $20 Win $200 in Free Bets
21+ CO, VA, MI Only | Terms and conditions apply
Mike Lukas is a retired standup comedian turned freelance writer now living in Dallas, Texas, originally from Cleveland, Ohio. His love for the game of football and all things Cleveland Browns turned Mike into a pro blogger years ago. Now Mike enjoys writing about all thirty-two NFL teams, hoping to help football gamblers gain a slight edge in their pursuit of the perfect wager. Email: [email protected]
More info on Mike Lukas
© Rebel Penguin ApS 2023 (a subsidiary of Gaming Innovation Group Inc.)
We support responsible gambling. 21+ Only. Gambling problem? Call 1-800-Gambler.
WSN.com is run by iGaming Cloud Inc (a Gaming Innovation Group Subsidiary) and is registered with the New Jersey
Division of Gaming Enforcement (DGE) under affiliate vendor ID
89744,
with the Indiana Gaming Commission (IGC) under certificate of registration number SWR-000148, approved by
the
Pennsylvania Gaming Control Board as a gaming service provider, under certificate registration number
117656-1,
possesses a Vendor Minor sports betting license from the Colorado Limited Gaming Control Commission (account
number 94414163), granted a vendor registration number VR007603-20-001 by the Michigan Gaming Control Board,
an
interim Sports Wagering Supplier license, under license number SWS 066, issued by the West Virginia Lottery
Commission, a sports betting vendor registration, under registration number #100400, issued by the Director
of
Gaming Licensing and Investigations of the Virginia Lottery to operate in the State of Virginia, and a
Vendor
Registration issued by the Sports Wagering Committee of the Tennessee Education Lottery Corporation.
Advertising disclosure: WSN contains links to online retailers on its website. When people click on our
affiliate links and make purchases, WSN earns a commission from our partners, including ESPN and various
sportsbooks.