When the Kansas City Chiefs take the field against the Philadelphia Eagles in Super Bowl 2025, they won’t just be playing for another championship. They’ll be chasing history.
With a victory, Kansas City would become the first team in NFL history to win three consecutive Super Bowls — a feat that even Tom Brady’s Patriots, the ’90s Cowboys, or the ’70s Steelers never accomplished.
For Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes, the significance isn’t lost.
“It [would be] legendary,” Mahomes said last February, just hours after the Chiefs defeated the 49ers in Super Bowl 2024. “No one’s ever done it.”
Except … that’s not entirely true.
While no team has ever won three straight Super Bowls, Vince Lombardi’s Green Bay Packers won three straight NFL Championships from 1965-67 — a run that included victories in Super Bowls I and II.
So, why isn’t that streak part of the conversation?
Hall of Fame linebacker Dave Robinson, a key figure in that Packers dynasty, has a theory.
“It’s a publicity thing,” said Robinson, 83. “It’s bogus.”
He believes the NFL is deliberately ignoring Green Bay’s three-peat in order to drum up interest in the Chiefs’ run.
Hall of Famer Jerry Kramer, a dominant guard during Lombardi’s reign, isn’t as convinced.
“Yesterday’s news,” said Kramer, 89. “I think it’s human nature to focus on today. And the game kind of contributes to that. Every year, another team wins.”
Regardless of the reason, one thing is clear: the original three-peat is fading from history. And as the Chiefs chase their own place in NFL immortality, the men who did it first are left wondering if their legacy is being erased.
A Dynasty Caught Between Eras
One of the biggest reasons the Packers’ three-peat isn’t widely acknowledged today is that the first of their championships predated the Super Bowl era.
By 1965, the American Football League had emerged as a legitimate challenger to the long-established National Football League. While the two leagues were on the path to a merger, there was still debate over which was superior. When the Packers won the 1965 NFL Championship against Jim Brown’s Cleveland Browns, many questioned whether they could truly call themselves the best team in professional football.
“The AFL contended that we couldn’t be world champions in 1965,” Robinson recalled.
The argument wasn’t without precedent. Back in 1950, the Cleveland Browns — a team fresh from an upstart league, the AAFC — had embarrassed the Philadelphia Eagles, then the reigning NFL champions, 35-10, in their first NFL game.
But Robinson was certain history wouldn’t have repeated itself.
“We deserved to be called champions in 1965,” he said. “Everyone who saw the 1965 Packers and the AFL teams knew they weren’t going to beat us.”
Still, no official interleague showdown took place. The first Super Bowl wouldn’t happen until the following season, when the two-time defending NFL champion Packers finally had their chance to prove themselves against the AFL’s best — the Kansas City Chiefs.
For Kramer and the Packers, however, that first Super Bowl wasn’t as significant as it would later become.
“We didn’t know the AFL. We hadn’t competed against any of those teams,” Kramer admitted. “We watched the film, and wide receivers were running into each other. We played it over and laughed.”
The 1967 season saw the Packers complete their NFL championship three-peat, but it wasn’t the Super Bowl that cemented their dynasty. It was the brutal, freezing showdown against the Dallas Cowboys in the Ice Bowl — arguably the most famous game in NFL history.
In subzero temperatures, the game came down to one final drive, one final push, and one final sneak from Bart Starr to secure the victory.
“The relief was so palpable when we won the Ice Bowl,” said Chuck Mercein, 81, a key addition to the 1967 championship team.
Two weeks later, the Packers dominated the Oakland Raiders in Super Bowl II, winning 33-14. For Mercein, the moment lacked the drama of the battles before it.
“The Super Bowl was anticlimactic,” he admitted.
But if the Super Bowl didn’t yet carry the weight it does today, Lombardi himself understood what a three-peat meant. Unlike current Chiefs head coach Andy Reid — who said on “The Rich Eisen Show” recently, “I haven’t heard one mention of [the three-peat]. I haven’t mentioned it. I don’t plan on mentioning it,” — Lombardi made it clear to his players just how much was at stake.
Lombardi stressed how important it was to win three in a row,” Mercein said.
“Vince Lombardi’s goal was to win three consecutive championships,” Robinson added.
To commemorate that achievement, the Packers’ 1967 championship rings told the story: three diamonds in a row, symbolizing each consecutive title.
The great irony of it all is that the trophy now bearing Lombardi’s name wasn’t something he particularly valued at the time.
Robinson believes that if Lombardi had realized how important the Super Bowl would become, he wouldn’t have stepped away from coaching after the 1967 season.
“Had he realized how important the Super Bowl was going to be, he wouldn’t have retired, and we would have beat the Jets [in 1968],” Robinson said.
Mercein agreed.
“He would have stuck around,” he said.
But Lombardi didn’t stay. He left the Packers at the peak of their dynasty, leaving the door open for a new era of champions—and for history to gradually reframe how his team’s dominance was remembered.
Who are they rooting for?
Now, nearly 60 years later, the Chiefs are on the verge of a three-peat of their own. And the Packers legends know exactly where they stand on it. For them, the Chiefs aren’t just another dominant team, but a challenge to their place in history. And that’s enough reason to root for the other side.
Kramer didn’t hesitate when asked.
“I don’t want them to have three in a row, claiming they’re the only team to ever have three in a row, with most of the media doing the same,” he said.
Robinson, too, didn’t mince words.
“If the Eagles win, I’ll be a little happier,” he admitted, before pausing for a moment.
Then he added, “Matter of fact, I’ll be a lot happier.”
Mercein, while not as outspoken, shared the same sentiment.
“I don’t want them to have three in a row,” he said simply.
Despite their preference, none of them are underestimating Kansas City. Kramer, in particular, acknowledged the challenge Philadelphia faces.
“They’re a hell of a football team, and they’ve had a hell of a run already,” he said. “I don’t expect them to lose, but I’m not going to root for them.”
Andrew Mercein is an M.S. Candidate at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism and the grandson of Packers great Chuck Mercein.
