One of the oldest and more storied franchises in the NFL, the Kansas City Chiefs have built on their rich history by adding another Super Bowl Trophy to their collection in 2022.
After championship victories separated by a long 54 years, the Chiefs as of late have become synonymous with winning and success thanks to a savvy head coach and once-in-a-lifetime talent at quarterback in Patrick Mahomes.
How Many Super Bowls Have the Chiefs Played In?
- Super Bowl I – January, 1967
- Super Bowl IV – January, 1970
- Super Bowl LIV – February, 2020
- Super Bowl LV – February, 2021
- Super Bowl LVI – February, 2023
Super Bowl LV marked the fourth time the Chiefs played in the Super Bowl in their history since the AFL-NFL merger. However, predating the merger, they also made a championship appearance in the pre-Super Bowl era as well.
Initially, the team we know now as the Chiefs were based in Dallas and were known as the Texans. They were one of the eight founding franchises when the AFL came into existence in 1960.
MORE: Who Is the Kansas City Chiefs’ Owner? History of the Hunt family
Lamar Hunt was originally turned away from purchasing the Chicago Cardinals of the NFL, and that rejection initiated the founding of the AFL league as a resolution to being turned away. He got together a group of other prospective NFL owners who had been turned down by the NFL and started the new league as a new venture.
The Texans won the 1962 AFL Championship, defeating the Houston Oilers in the AFL Championship Game. Despite the team’s success, the Dallas market could not sustain two football franchises (the other being the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys), and Hunt decided to relocate the Texans to Kansas City in 1963 and the rest is history.
What Is the Chiefs’ Super Bowl Record?
The Chiefs have a 3-2 record in the five Super Bowls they have appeared in.
How Many Super Bowls Have the Chiefs Won?
The Kansas City Chiefs have won three Super Bowls in their franchise’s history.
Super Bowl Wins by the Chiefs
The 1969 championship game was the final one between the AFL and NFL before the merger. In 1970, the two leagues merged into the NFL we now know today. This is why you see many records with the prefaces: pre- or post-NFL merger.
They defeated the New York Jets and Oakland Raiders in the playoffs to earn the right to play in Super Bowl IV against the Minnesota Vikings and the ferocious “Purple People Eaters” defense. While oddsmakers saw this as a closer game than their last appearance, the Chiefs were still 13-point underdogs going into the matchup.
Dawson said the teams’ unfamiliarity helped play a big part in the game. Due to the AFL’s tendencies to use more exotic formations and their ability to air the ball out, Kansas City caught the Vikings off-guard with their plan of attack.
By halftime, the Chiefs had a 16-0 lead and ended the game on top by a score of 23-7. Dawson took home MVP honors, and the defense held Minnesota to only 239 total yards on the day giving the franchise their first Super Bowl win in its history.
Little did they know, it would be another 50 years until the Chiefs would once again kiss the trophy that bears the name of the man who said they didn’t belong.
The Mahomes Era Quickly Added a Win to the Chiefs’ Super Bowl History
With the team now led by head coach Andy Reid and Patrick Mahomes, it took the duo no time to put together the makings of the NFL’s next great dynasty.
Following a 12-4 regular-season record, Mahomes and the Chiefs met up with Jimmy Garoppolo and the 13-3 San Francisco 49ers.
The first half of the game saw a back-and-forth effort from both teams leading to a 10-10 score at halftime. However, The 49ers were able to pull ahead and had a 20-10 lead heading into the 4th quarter before the magic of Mahomes shined through.
Over the final 6:13 of the game, the Chiefs’ offense had two scoring drives. Mahomes threw touchdown passes to TE Travis Kelce and RB Damien Williams to take the lead just before the two-minute warning.
The defense would get a critical stop followed by a late TD run by Williams, and then a Kendall Fuller interception sealed the game. Mahomes would go on to be named Super Bowl MVP after He completed 26 of 42 pass attempts for 286 yards, two touchdowns, and two interceptions. He also rushed for 29 yards and a touchdown.
Three years later, Mahomes and the Chiefs were back in the big game. A second-half surge by Mahomes and the offense — aided by a huge Kadarius Toney punt return and a questionable defensive holding call on the Eagles — helped the Chiefs overcome a 10-point deficit.
Super Bowl Losses by the Chiefs
To look back on the Chiefs’ Super Bowl wins and losses would be to go back to the start of the game itself. While neither team knew it, they were playing in the first Super Bowl. The Super Bowl’s name was something Chiefs’ founder Lamar Hunt came up with after watching one of his children play with a “Super Ball,” a popular kids toy during that time.
In 1966, the AFL-NFL Championship Game pitted the Vince Lombardi-led Green Bay Packers against the still relatively new Chiefs. Seen as the new upstart that couldn’t hang with the real league, the AFL grew in legitimacy when NFL Commissioner Pete Rozelle agreed the NFL’s champion would play the AFL’s champion at the end of the season.
Kansas City’s high-scoring offense was led by QB Len Dawson, WR Otis Taylor, and RB Mike Garrett, a former Heisman Trophy winner. The Chiefs also had an incredible defense, led by future Hall of Famers Willie Lanier, Buck Buchanan, Emmitt Thomas, Bobby Bell, and Johnny Robinson.
However, their lack of depth wound up being their downfall. Kansas City held tough, making it 14-10 at the half, but in the end, the Packers were able to pull away and win soundly, 35-10.
After the game, Lombardi had some parting shots for the newcomers to the professional game.
“I think the Kansas City team is a real tough football team that doesn’t compare with the National Football League teams,” Lombardi said. “That’s what you wanted me to say, I said it.”
That comment fueled the Chiefs until they made their next Super Bowl appearance in Super Bowl IV.
The Chiefs would return to the Super Bowl in 2021, only to lose to Tom Brady and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. The Buccaneers managed to do something in that game that no other team seemed capable of doing that season: slow down the Chiefs’ offense.
Kansas City scraped together a whopping nine points as the Buccaneers’ defense forced QB Patrick Mahomes into making some critical mistakes.