Super Bowl: Kansas City driven to repeat as champs

LAS VEGAS — Travis Kelce and Patrick Mahomes started talking about it after they won Super Bowl LIV together, and it has been a topic again since they won it all last year.

The truly great teams repeat as Super Bowl champions.

For Kansas City to go down in NFL history as an all-time great team, then winning back-to-back championships is a must, according to Kelce and Mahomes.

Kelce has been “on a mission” to accomplish that. Mahomes feels the same. Kansas City has that opportunity on Sunday against the San Francisco 49ers in Super Bowl LVIII.

“There’s a certain tier of teams in the NFL that have gone back-to-back,” Kelce said. “I’ve been on a mission ever since I won my first Super Bowl. We made it back to the Super Bowl the year after 2019. We lost to the Buccaneers. That’s motivated me to get back to this point right here.

“I want this one more than I’ve ever wanted a Super Bowl in my life.”

With a victory, Kansas City would join some exclusive clubs.

Andy Reid’s team would be the seventh franchise with at least four Super Bowl titles, the fourth to capture three in five years and the eighth to go back- to-back.

Repeating as champs has been the driving force for this team.

“It puts a team in a different echelon,” Mahomes said. “Being able to win back-to-back Super Bowls is special. There’s only a small group of teams that have been able to do that. So for us, it’s just to prove that we can do it to prove that we can win back-to-back.”

After beating the 49ers, 31-20, in Super Bowl LIV, Kansas City returned the following year but was throttled by Tom Brady and Tampa Bay, 31-9. KC became one of four teams that lost with a chance to win two straight championships.

The teams that pulled off back-to-back Super Bowl victories are Green Bay, Miami, Pittsburgh (twice), San Francisco, Dallas, Denver and New England. The Patriots are the only team to do it this century, winning Super Bowls XXXVIII and XXXIX following the 2003 and 2004 seasons.

Many of them are considered legendary teams. Kansas City wants to join the conversation.

“That tier of teams that have done it twice have gone down in history as some of the greats,” Kelce said. “Me and Pat have been talking about this since we won our first Super Bowl. Unfortunately, we fell short the first time around. This time we want it that much more, man.

“We want it that much more because we know how much more respected those teams are knowing that they had what it took to win it a second time in a row.”

Not many teams have been able to do it, for a number of reasons.

Offensive coordinator Matt Nagy, a former head coach with 16 years of NFL experience, said you become “the team that’s hunted” and opponents’ “championship game every week.”

Teams have to play at an even higher level throughout the regular season and still stay healthy and sharp for the playoffs.

Another factor in how difficult it is to repeat is how much teams change. If you’re a winning franchise, members of the coaching staff get head-coaching jobs or coordinator positions with other teams. Players also leave for more money in free agency.

“There’s got to be fortune, you got to stay healthy, you got to have great coaches year in and year out,” Kelce said. “When you win the Super Bowl, everybody wants to take pieces from that team.

“It’s just, it’s not the easiest trying to go year in, year out, knowing that you’re going to get everybody’s best shot, but I’ll tell you what, it’s a sweet feeling when you get back here. We just got to go ahead and handle business.”

If Kansas City achieves that, it would put the franchise in “rare air,” said Tim Terry, Kansas City’s director of pro personnel and a Hempstead product.

It’s going to take a great performance from coordinator Steve Spagnuolo’s No. 2-ranked defense to contain the explosive 49ers offense.

All-Pro defensive tackle Chris Jones called that offense “the best I’ve ever seen.”

San Francisco is loaded with playmakers everywhere: running back Christian McCaffrey, receivers Deebo Samuel and Brandon Aiyuk and tight end George Kittle. Quarterback Brock Purdy has mostly been unflappable, but Spagnuolo will try to devise something to rattle him.

“The key is to slow them down. I don’t think you’re going to stop them,” Spagnuolo said. “We need to find a way to make those three, four or five key plays, big plays to help us get the ball back to Patrick.

“This is going to be a huge challenge for our guys. It’ll be the toughest offense we’ve played. Somehow, some way, we’ve got to find a way to make enough plays.”

Kansas City is the underdog, which some players surely will use as motivation. The team is 9-3 as underdogs in the Mahomes Era. But nothing is fueling KC more than to be able to repeat as champions.

If they can turn Sin City into Win City, Mahomes promised to foot the bill for his teammates to return and enjoy Vegas, given that this week has been all about preparing for Sunday.

“It’s a business trip,” Mahomes said. “I told everybody if we win the Super Bowl, I’ll bring everybody back to Vegas in a couple weeks and we’ll celebrate then.”

By Al Iannazzone

al.iannazzone@newsday.comAl_Iannazzone

Al Iannazzone covers the Jets for Newsday after spending nearly two decades on the NBA beat with Knicks and Nets.