With this weekend’s two conference championship games comes familiarity regarding Super Bowl hopes for all four-teams involved. In the AFC it is Kansas City versus Buffalo and in the NFC Washington visits Philadelphia. The winners advance to this season’s Super Bowl.
All four teams, minus Buffalo, have brought home at least one Lombardi Trophy. Jayden Daniels will try to become the first rookie quarterback to start in a Super Bowl. Josh Allen will attempt at helping his Bills win a game they have yet to be the victors in…the Super Bowl. Buffalo has been there four times and lost each time.
Now it’s time for a little history lesson on the four teams playing in championship weekend regarding the playoffs, conference championships, and of course the Super Bowl.
- Kansas City Chiefs. Since their inception to the old American Football League (AFL) and then joining the National Football League, the Chiefs have been in the playoffs 27 times. Among those games Kansas City has reached the conference title game in the Super Bowl era nine times. In those nine games they have won six which resulted in four Super Bowl titles and two Super Bowl losses. The Chiefs also won the AFL in 1962. As we all know, a Super Bowl triumph this year would make Kansas City the only team in Super Bowl history to win three consecutive Lombardi trophies.
- Buffalo Bills. When you think Super Bowl with the Buffalo Bills, Scott Norwood’s name automatically comes to mind. With a missed field goal in the Super Bowl that would have given Buffalo the NFL title when they played the New York Giants, Norwood became perhaps the biggest choker in Buffalo sports history. The Bills have yet to claim a Super Bowl title. Four times the Bills made it there from 1990 to 1993 and they could not find a way to win. When Buffalo was in the AFL, they won that title twice. The last time was in 1965 which means the city of Buffalo has been waiting 60 years for a league title. That is easily the longest drought of any of the teams playing this weekend. 23 times the Bills have made the postseason including the AFL which also includes an additional three trips to the AFC conference championship game where they lost all three.
- Philadelphia Eagles. The two teams vying for the NFC title are also the oldest teams playing in the final weekend before the Super Bowl. The Bills and Chiefs came over from the AFL, but the Eagles and Redskins/Commanders are originals. They have played each other 182 times throughout their franchise history and the series is tight just as this Sunday’s game will probably be. The Commanders lead the all-time series with 90 victories against 86 losses and there have been six ties. But they have met just once before in the playoffs. The year was 1991 and the Eagles lost 20-6. Now they meet again and for Philadelphia they have won the Lombardi just once in 2017. In 2004 and 2022 the Eagles were losers in the Super Bowl. From 2001 to 2003 Philadelphia made it to the NFC title game and lost each time. The Eagles have been to the playoffs 31 times since they began playing in 1933 and have also won the NFL title pre-Super Bowl three times (1948-48 and 1960). They were also runners-up in 1947.
- Washington Commanders/Redskins. Washington’s last Super Bowl victory came in 1991. They were winners as well in 1987 and 1982. In 1983 they made it back for another shot at a Lombardi only to lose and they also lost in 1972 to the only undefeated team in NFL history to also win a title, the Miami Dolphins. 25 times the Washington team made the postseason, and that history includes three Super Bowl titles, two NFL titles, one conference championship loss in 1986, and four times they were runners up in the pre-Super Bowl years.
