There have been 10 instances where the same two teams have met in multiple Super Bowls, and there's even one case where they've met three times.
When the New England Patriots beat the Denver Broncos 10-7 to win their 11th AFC championship, it guaranteed that Super Bowl LX would feature a previous matchup.
Both NFC finalists, the Seattle Seahawks and Los Angeles Rams, have already lost Super Bowls to the Patriots, with the Rams having lost twice. The Seahawks claimed their fourth NFC title with a 31-27 win over the Rams, setting up the 10th instance of a Super Bowl redux.
Many of those games are widely considered classics that produced some of the most memorable moments in the game’s history. Let’s take a look at how they unfolded.
Matchups are listed in chronological order of the second meeting.
Steelers vs. Cowboys
First meeting: Super Bowl X, Steelers 21, Cowboys 17
The Cowboys were in just their 11th season but had already tasted success with a win in Super Bowl VI and plenty of heartbreak, notably losing the Ice Bowl and Super Bowl V. The Steelers began play in 1933 but had only made three playoff appearances in that span.
The Steelers prevailed, punctuated by a pair of circus catches from Hall of Fame wide receiver Lynn Swann — including the iconic “Levitating Leap.” Swann also had an acrobatic toe-tapping sideline grab to set up a Pittsburgh field goal. The Steelers put the game away on a 64-yard touchdown pass from Terry Bradshaw, launching a dynasty that would culminate in them becoming the “Team of the ‘70s.”
Second meeting: Super Bowl XIII, Steelers 35, Cowboys 31
Fittingly, two of the winningest teams of the 1970s met for a second time in four years with a championship on the line. This matchup featured more points, but more of the same with the Steelers climbing out from an early deficit and controlling the second half. Perhaps most memorable was a dropped touchdown in the third quarter by Cowboys tight end Jackie Smith, prompting the legendary Verne Lundquist to exclaim on the Dallas radio broadcast: “Bless his heart, he’s got to be the sickest man in America!”
Third meeting: Super Bowl XXX, Cowboys 27, Steelers 17
It took 17 years, but the Cowboys finally got revenge and capped their own dynasty in the Arizona desert. Dallas got out to an 13-0 lead but by the third quarter had seen it whittled down to 20-17 thanks to some daring play calling from Pittsburgh coach Bill Cowher. But when Steelers quarterback Neil O’Donnell inexplicably threw right into the waiting arms of Cowboys defensive back Larry Brown while driving for the lead, Pittsburgh’s fate was sealed. Dallas turned Brown’s pair of picks into 14 points and he won the game’s MVP award.
Miami vs. Washington
First meeting: Super Bowl VII, Miami 14, Washington 7
The Dolphins completed the first 17-0 campaign in NFL history, still the only undefeated single season of the Super Bowl era in a dominant performance. In fact, Miami came within one rather infamous special teams gaffe of producing the only shutout in Super Bowl history.
But it wasn’t to be as a late field goal attempt from Dolphins kicker Garo Yepremian sparked one of the more bizarre sequences you’ll ever see. The kick was blocked and picked up by Yepremian, who then tried to throw a pass but the ball slipped out of his hand before he could propel it forward. Then, further compounding the situation, Yepremian hit the ball vertically similar to a volleyball pass, but that was plucked from the air by Mike Bass and returned 49 yards for Washington’s lone score.
Second meeting: Super Bowl XVII, Washington 27, Miami 17
The Dolphins led 17-10 at halftime and 17-13 with 10:01 remaining in the fourth quarter when veteran fullback John Riggins took a handoff from fellow future Hall of Famer Joe Theismann on a fourth-and-1 from the 43-yard line, immediately shed a tackle and rumbled down the left sideline for what would be the game’s decisive score. Washington shut Miami out in the second half and Riggins earned the game’s MVP award.
It was also Miami’s final game without a certain cannon-armed, Canton-bound quarterback named Dan Marino on the roster, as it selected the University of Pittsburgh signal-caller later that spring.
49ers vs. Bengals
First meeting: Super Bowl XVI, 49ers 26, Bengals 21
The 49ers and their coach arrived in Detroit (er, Pontiac) Michigan, with a lot to prove. The franchise had gone just 3-5 in the postseason in 34 years in operation and Bill Walsh was looking to vindicate himself after being passed over for the Bengals head coaching job several years earlier. Both succeeded and launched a dynasty in the process.
The most memorable sequence came in the third quarter with the Bengals on the 1-yard line looking to cut the deficit to 20-14. The 49ers defense held, punctuated by linebacker Dan Bunz’s outstanding open-field tackle that is part of so many Super Bowl highlight reels.
Second meeting: Super Bowl XXIII, 49ers 20, Bengals 16
A three-quarter slog turned into a fourth-quarter classic. Cincinnati’s Stanford Jennings ran back a kickoff 93 yards to break a 6-6 stalemate with 34 seconds remaining in the third quarter. The 49ers quickly answered with a Joe Montana-to-Jerry Rice 14-yard touchdown pass less than two minutes later. After Jim Breech added a field goal with 3:20 remaining in the game to put the Bengals up 16-13, the 49ers were set up on their own 8-yard line. Montana engineered a 92-yard drive in under three minutes and hit John Taylor in the back of the end zone with 34 seconds remaining – with game MVP Rice serving as a decoy on the play – for the winning score.
The game marked the end of Bill Walsh’s Hall of Fame coaching career as he retired days later.
Cowboys vs. Bills
First meeting: Super Bowl XXVII, Cowboys 52, Bills 17
It’s easy to forget that the Bills actually held a 7-0 lead in this game late in the first quarter. Then, right after Jay Novacek tied the game on a 23-yard touchdown pass from Troy Aikman, the floodgates broke. On the first play of the ensuing possession, Charles Haley sacked Jim Kelly, who lost the ball. Jimmie Jones scooped up the fumble and returned it two yards for the go-ahead score. By halftime it was 28-10 following a pair of Michael Irvin touchdown catches and the rout was on.
Despite the resounding victory, the searing memory of many (non-Cowboys) fans was Bills wide receiver Don Beebe chasing down Cowboys defensive lineman Leon Lett, who was on the verge of scoring a 49-yard fumble return touchdown. But on the doorstep of the end zone, Lett inexplicably held the ball out allowing Beebe to bat it out of his hand for a touchback. The score would have set a Super Bowl record for points that would still stand today if completed.
Second meeting: Super Bowl XXVIII, Cowboys 30, Bills 13
The only consecutive Super Bowl rematch saw the Bills — playing in their fourth straight Super Bowl — take a 13-6 lead into halftime. But defensive coordinator Dave Wannstedt’s elite defense littered with talent like Charles Haley, Ken Norton Jr. and Nate Newton shut the Bills out in the second half to send Buffalo home empty-handed yet again.
Patriots vs. Giants
First meeting: Super Bowl XLII, Giants 17, Patriots 14
Randy Moss’s arrival in New England in 2007 resulted in Tom Brady’s first MVP award, a perfect regular season and the first 18-0 record in league history. But the NFL’s second undefeated season of the Super Bowl era was not to be.
You know where we’re going with this.
Down 14-10 with 1:15 remaining and facing third-and 5 from his own 44-yard line, Eli Manning dropped back and quickly found himself in the grasp of both Richard Seymour and Jarvis Green. Referee Mike Carey crucially let it play out as Manning escaped and heaved the ball downfield in the direction of wide receiver David Tyree, who was well-covered by Rodney Harrison. Tyree – who had caught a 5-yard touchdown earlier in the quarter – leapt and pinned the ball to his helmet with one hand and came down with the catch.
Moments later Plaxico Burress caught a 13-yard touchdown pass from Manning for the go-ahead score that denied the Patriots immortality.
Second meeting: Super Bowl XLVI, Giants 21, Patriots 17
A game that unfolded like a three-act play saw the Giants get out to a 9-0 lead only for the Patriots to score 17 unanswered points for an eight-point lead midway through the third quarter. But coordinator Perry Fewell’s defense held the rest of the way. Lawrence Tynes hit a pair of midrange field goals late in the third quarter to keep the Giants within striking distance.
Down 17-15 with 3:46 remaining, Manning guided an 88-yard drive capped by a 6-yard Ahmad Bradshaw touchdown run with just under a minute remaining to claim a second Super Bowl victory against the dynastic Pats.
Patriots vs. Eagles
First meeting: Super Bowl XXXIX, Patriots 24, Eagles 21
After three straight NFC championship defeats, Philly finally made it back to the Super Bowl. But ran into the Tom Brady/Bill Belichick buzzsaw.
The Eagles, like many, didn’t see Deion Branch coming. The Patriots’ third receiving option caught 11 passes for 133 yards in crucial drives during a back-and-forth affair in Jacksonville. Whether Donovan McNabb, um, regurgitated in a late-game huddle, as is lore, is irrelevant. The Eagles’ comeback fizzled, despite a late Greg Lewis touchdown reception, and the Patriots claimed their third Lombardi Trophy.
Second meeting: Super Bowl LII, Eagles 41, Patriots 33
“You want Philly, Philly?”
Just before halftime, Nick Foles asked that question of head coach Doug Pederson and added to Super Bowl lore. On the ensuing play, Foles caught the trick-play pass from tight end Trey Burton – one he’d actually caught in high school in Texas.
Eagles defensive end Brandon Graham’s strip-sack of Tom Brady with 2:16 to go just may have saved the day for the Eagles, who almost literally could not stop Brady and the Patriots’ offense.
In one of the most explosive offensive performances in Super Bowl and league history overall, Foles won the MVP despite Tom Brady passing for 505 yards in defeat. The game featured the most combined yards of any game NFL game ever with 1,151 as well as the fewest combined punts (just one, from Philadelphia’s Donnie Jones). The Patriots’ 33 points were the most by a Super Bowl-losing team.
Patriots vs. Rams
First meeting: Super Bowl XXXVI, Patriots 20, Rams 17
The most improbable Super Bowl result ever — the Rams entered as 14-point favorites — launched yet another dynasty. We don’t have to tell you, but this Tom Brady guy was kinda good. So was Adam Vinatieri. The all-conquering, nearly unstoppable Rams “Greatest Show on Turf” offense ran smack into Bill Belichick and Romeo Crennel.
But it was grounded by the likes of Ty Law, Tedy Bruschi and current Patriots coach Mike Vrabel. And, as is lionized by NFL Films, Adam Vinatieri kicked a walk-off 48-yard field goal — two weeks after his winning kick vs. the Raiders in the divisional-round “Tuck Rule Game” — to win it all.
Second meeting: Super Bowl LIII, Patriots 13, Rams 3
One of the less-eventful Super Bowls (note the score) was punctuated by a Sony Michel touchdown run with seven minutes to go.
Most notably, it was the last Super Bowl victory for the Belichick-Brady union, which had enjoyed, mostly, a two-decade dynasty.
Chiefs vs. 49ers
First meeting: Super Bowl LIV, Chiefs 31, 49ers 20
The 49ers really thought they had their league-tying sixth title. And they should have. But then, as he would continue to for years to come, Patrick Mahomes happened.
The Niners led 20-10 late in the third quarter. In football that’s an eternity, and the Chiefs proved it en route to their first title in 50 years (another comparative eternity) by scoring 21 unanswered points to shellshock San Francisco.
Second meeting: Super Bowl LVIII, Chiefs 25, 49ers 22
This Mahomes guy is pretty good. Jake Moody booted a 53-yard field goal to put the 49ers up 19-16 with just 1:53 to play. But Mahomes, as he so many times in the postseason, guided a drive to set up a Harrison Butker tying field goal as regulation time expired. Then, after Moody hit a go-ahead field goal with 7:22 to go in overtime, the Chiefs reached the 49ers’ 3-yard line with time dwindling down. Mahomes hit Mecole Hardman for a touchdown pass, Hardman’s lone score of the season, with three seconds remaining to again dash San Francisco’s hopes of a sixth Lombardi trophy.
Chiefs vs. Eagles
First meeting: Super Bowl LVII, Chiefs 38, Eagles 35
After the Eagles tied the game at 35-35 on a Jalen Hurts sneak and a two-point conversion with 5:15 to play, Mahomes engineered another masterpiece. The Chiefs mounted an 11-play drive that took all but 11 seconds off the clock, with the key play coming on a Mahomes 26-yard scramble that set them up on the Eagles’ 15-yard line. Many in Philadelphia will remember a defensive hold on James Bradberry a few plays later, but Kansas City was already on the doorstep.
Harrison Butker’s 27-yard field goal with just eight seconds remaining delivered the Chiefs’ third Lombardi trophy.
Second meeting: Super Bowl LIX, Eagles 40, Chiefs 22
Perhaps still smarting from their defeat just two years prior, the Eagles left no doubt this time around and denied the Chiefs what would have been a historic Super Bowl three-peat. Philadelphia held Mahomes and Co. scoreless for nearly three quarters. It wasn’t until Xavier Worthy’s 24-yard touchdown catch with 34 seconds remaining in the third quarter that the Chiefs got on the board. By then it was 34-7, with MVP Hurts having accounted for all three of the Eagles’ offensive touchdowns (one rushing, two passing) and birthday boy Cooper DeJean returning a wayward Mahomes pass 38 yards for a pick 6.
Patriots vs. Seahawks
First meeting: Super Bowl XLIX, Patriots 28, Seahawks 24
In perhaps the most-scrutinized Super Bowl coaching decision of all time, Pete Carroll and Darrell Bevel chose to throw a slant from the 1-yard line rather than hand the ball off Marshawn Lynch again.
After the Patriots took a 28-24 lead just before the two-minute warning, Russell Wilson drove the Seahawks 79 yards thanks in large part to a 31-yard pass to Lynch and a 33-yard circus grab by Jermaine Kearse that set them up at the Patriots’ 5-yard line. Following a four-yard Lynch rumble, Malcolm Butler made an incredible break on a Wilson pass intended for Ricardo Lockette and made the game-saving interception with 20 seconds left.
Second meeting: Super Bowl LX, TBD …
Category: General Sports
