Is there a more automatic source of NFL schedule excitement than a rematch of the last Super Bowl?
The Philadelphia Eagles and Kansas City Chiefs meet up again Sunday afternoon — as America’s Game of the Week, with Tom Brady and crew on the call on FOX (Sunday, 4:25 p.m. ET) — and against the odds, it’s the third year in a row the NFL has a Super Bowl rematch on its schedule.
That’s three in a row, after just three such rematches in the previous 25 seasons. Having a 17th game — an extra game against a division champ from the opposite conference if you won your division — certainly helps the odds. It’s basically a 50-50 shot for a rematch in any year when both Super Bowl teams won their divisions. Still, to have it three years in a row is some slot-machine luck, given the rotational nature of NFL scheduling.
There have been 10 Super Bowl rematches in the following regular season, and just one instance in 58 chances where the two Super Bowl teams met again in the Super Bowl the following year. It’s worth mentioning that the defending champs are 8-3 in these rematch games, and in the spirit of wanting a good Eagles-Chiefs game, we’ll rank all 11 of them now, from worst to best, focusing on the quality of the game and not as much the historical context of the teams involved.
John Madden’s 1976 Raiders are underappreciated, going 16-1 and dominating the Vikings in a 32-14 championship win. The rematch in Week 13 (second-to-last week back then) was much the same, with Oakland leading 21-0 after one quarter. Ken Stabler had three touchdowns on only 15 passes. Mark van Eeghen rushed for 112 and a score, and the Vikings committed seven turnovers.
Tom Brady and the Patriots defeated the Falcons in much less dramatic fashion in their Super Bowl rematch. (Photo by Adam Glanzman/Getty Images)
The Super Bowl was legendary, with the Patriots and Tom Brady rallying from a 28-3 deficit to beat the Falcons in overtime. The rematch? No such drama, with New England leading 17-0 at the half on two Brady touchdowns. The Patriots had a shutout going until Matt Ryan and Julio Jones connected for a touchdown with 4:09 left in the game. Atlanta went 2-for-9 on third down, missed twice on fourth down and doinked a field goal in a losing effort.
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9. 1997: Green Bay Packers 28, New England Patriots 10
Green Bay had won the Super Bowl 35-21 on three total Brett Favre touchdowns, and the Week 9 rematch finished with an even more lopsided score. New England led 10-7 at the half on a Drew Bledsoe touchdown to tight end Ben Coates, but Favre finished with three touchdown passes in an easy Packers win. Dorsey Levens rushed for 100 yards and a touchdown and caught another score.
8. 2024: Kansas City Chiefs 28, San Francisco 49ers 18
Patrick Mahomes needed to use his legs to help the Chiefs emerge victorious in the last Super Bowl rematch he played in. (Photo by Ezra Shaw/Getty Images)
Even on the road, the defending champion Chiefs pulled this Week 7 win out. This was a 14-12 game early in the fourth, but Patrick Mahomes and Mecole Hardman had rushing touchdowns to pull away. The 49ers’ Christian McCaffrey, who had 160 total yards and a touchdown in the Super Bowl to help push the Chiefs to overtime, missed the rematch with injury. Mahomes has now played in 134 career regular-season and playoff games, and this one — with no touchdown passes and two interceptions — is the worst passer rating out of the 134.
Pittsburgh and Dallas combined to play in nine Super Bowls between the 1970 and 1979 seasons, including two against each other. This came after the second one, and the Steelers’ defense, just brimming with future Hall of Famers, got the job done, holding Dallas to three points. Terry Bradshaw was the game’s leading passer despite going 11 of 25 for 126 yards, and Franco Harris had the game’s only two touchdowns, the latter a 48-yarder to put the game out of reach.
6. 1970: Minnesota Vikings 27, Kansas City Chiefs 10
The Chiefs won Super Bowl IV in the last act of the old AFL, holding three playoff opponents to 20 total points, but after the merger, the Vikings got the best of them in a Week 1 welcome-to-the-NFL rematch. Major points if you can name the winning quarterback for Minnesota — it was Gary Cuozzo, who went 10-2 as a starter that season, only to lose to the 49ers in the first round of the playoffs. Paul Krause had a 40-yard interception to lead the Vikings’ defense.
5. 1994: Dallas Cowboys 30, Buffalo Bills 13
Emmitt Smith ran away with the MVP in the only ever Super Bowl featuring the same two teams from the previous season. (Photo by Focus on Sport/Getty Images)
The only true Super Bowl rematch as Dallas and Buffalo met two years in a row in the big game. The Bills led in the second half, but the Cowboys tied it on a 48-yard James Washington touchdown on a fumble recovery, and two Emmitt Smith touchdowns allowed Dallas to pull away for its second of three championships in four years. This was the last of four straight Super Bowl losses for the Bills. So easily the biggest platform for a Super Bowl rematch, but not a great game to live up to the only-once-ever hype.
4. 2023: Philadelphia Eagles 21, Kansas City Chiefs 17
The Eagles got some small revenge (they’d do that on a larger level in the Super Bowl a year later) with this Week 11 win at Arrowhead. Kansas City led 17-7 at the half, but Philadelphia’s defense shut it out in the second half, winning behind two Jalen Hurts rushing touchdowns. Again, not an amazing game for Mahomes, who got only 177 yards on 43 passes — from a yards per attempt standpoint, it’s the worst in his 134 career regular-season games. The Chiefs had two shots to win after the Eagles took the lead with 6:20 left, but Kansas City couldn’t cross midfield on either chance.
Graham Gano had a chance to help the Panthers get revenve over the Broncos for their Super Bowl loss. (Photo by Justin Edmonds/Getty Images)
Denver won the Super Bowl with 194 yards of total offense, easily the least ever for a Super Bowl winner and in the bottom 10, period. That was Peyton Manning’s final game, so the Week 1 rematch offered up … Trevor Siemian, who honestly did more than Manning did in the Super Bowl. Denver trailed 17-7 in the fourth quarter, but Siemien threw a touchdown to C.J. Anderson, who added a rushing touchdown of his own. Carolina, down four with 4:17 to play, had a fourth-and-5 at the Denver 18 and opted for a field goal. The Panthers made the kick and got the ball back, but Graham Gano’s 50-yard field goal with four seconds left missed wide left. Siemien and the Broncos escaped, but missed the playoffs that year at 9-7
2. 1993: Buffalo Bills 13, Dallas Cowboys 10
Poor Buffalo, with a consolation Week 2 regular-season win sandwiched in between two Super Bowl losses to Dallas. In the first Super Bowl rematch in 14 years, the Bills won when safety Matt Darby intercepted a Troy Aikman pass at the 2-yard line with 12 seconds left after Steve Christie had put Buffalo ahead on a field goal with 2:49 left. The loss put the Cowboys at 0-2, but they responded by winning 15 of their next 17 games to repeat as champs.
The Seahawks throttled the Broncos 43-8 in Super Bowl XLVIII — which featured three turnovers by Peyton Manning — so it didn’t take much for the Week 3 rematch to be a better game. Seattle led 17-3 in the fourth quarter, but Denver rallied back on two Manning touchdowns, the latter coming with 18 seconds remaining. However, Seattle went on to win in overtime on a Marshawn Lynch touchdown run. Seattle would make it back to the Super Bowl, but lost there to the Patriots.
Greg Auman is an NFL Reporter for FOX Sports. He previously spent a decade covering the Buccaneers for the Tampa Bay Times and The Athletic. You can follow him on Twitter at @gregauman.
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