Kansas City Chiefs strong safety Tyrann Mathieu, right, reaches to tackle San Francisco 49ers wide receiver Deebo Samuel during the first half of the NFL Super Bowl 54 football game Sunday, Feb. 2, 2020, in Miami Gardens, Fla. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)
When the San Francisco 49ers eventually ascended the playoff mountain to the Super Bowl, they were met by a well-known opponent.
In as short a time as possible, the Niners’ second opportunity to win a Super Bowl against the Kansas City Chiefs will be an uncommon rematch of the championship game.
“It’s perfect,” defensive end Nick Bosa of the 49ers said when asked about having another chance to defeat the Chiefs and Patrick Mahomes in the previous five seasons.
“They are the best quarterback, coach, and organization out there. They were also struggling and didn’t look well this year, but they are currently playing their best ball. Thus, it will be quite difficult.”
Just eight Super Bowl rematches have occurred in the 57 previous games, and just three of those occurred in the five years before to this one. The teams who prevailed in the initial encounter emerged victorious from those three rematches.
More than a dozen players, including stars from both teams, are expected to play in this matchup after participating in the Kansas City 31-20 victory in Miami at the end of the 2019 campaign.
Under Mahomes’ and coach Andy Reid’s leadership, the Chiefs overcame a 10-point deficit in the fourth quarter to win that game and secure their first of two Super Bowl titles. Kansas City, who also suffered a defeat, will be the third team in four out of five seasons to make it to the championship game.
“We already know pretty well how it’s going to look,” said Kyle Shanahan, the coach for San Francisco. They’ve been engaged in it for some time. It appears that since we first met them in 2019, they have visited every year. We have been making a lot of effort to return to this exact time.”
Bosa is joined on the active roster by Deebo Samuel, George Kittle, Fred Warner, Dre Greenlaw, Arik Armstead, Kyle Juszczyk, and Mitch Wishnowsky as the eight players who represented their teams in the first meeting.
Travis Kelce, Chris Jones, Harrison Butker, Mecole Hardman, James Winchester, Nick Allegretti, and Blake Bell will be joining Mahomes.
In addition, San Francisco has injured tight end Ross Dwelley, who is on season-ending injured reserve, and cornerback Charvarius Ward, who was a member of the Chiefs squad that defeated the Niners four years ago.
Richie Hames, a receiver, is a former Niners player from that game for the Chiefs. Defensive lineman Derrick Nnadi is also on injured reserve, and Austin Reiter and Mike Pennel are on the practice squad.
Here are the other Super Bowl rematches that occurred within five seasons of the original game.
New England’s 2007 season was marred by an upset by Eli Manning and the Giants, who repeated the feat four years later.
With two minutes remaining in the game, Tom Brady hit Randy Moss for a 6-yard touchdown throw to tie the score at 10, bringing the Patriots, who had an 18-0 record going into Super Bowl 42, within one play of matching the 1972 Dolphins’ perfect season.
However, Manning stunned New England by leading New York down the field with the aid of David Tyree’s helmet reception and hitting Plaxico Burress for the game-winning touchdown.
In the 2011 season, Manning repeated the feat, converting a field goal with 57 seconds remaining to win 21-17.
Cowboys vs. Bills
Dallas and Buffalo had the only Super Bowl rematch in consecutive seasons, meeting at the end of the 1992 and 1993 campaigns.
The Cowboys got the best of both.
They used nine takeaways and four TD passes from Troy Aikman to hand the Bills a 52-17 loss in Super Bowl 27.
The rematch was far closer but had the same end result. James Washington returned a fumble for a TD early in the third quarter to tie the game and Emmitt Smith ran for two TDs in the second half for a 30-13 win.
Steelers vs. Cowboys
In the 1970s, the Cowboys lost to the Steelers in the Super Bowl rematch after winning the 1975 and 1978 seasons.
Dallas’s desperate pass to defeat Minnesota and their rout of the Rams made them the first wild-card club to get to the Super Bowl 10 championship game.
However, they were unable to overcome the Steel Curtain in the second-ever Super Bowl second-half comeback. To complete back-to-back championships for the Steelers, Pittsburgh won 21–17 thanks to a safety, two field goals, and a 64-yard touchdown grab by Super Bowl MVP Lynn Swann in the fourth quarter.
In the first-ever Super Bowl rematch, Pittsburgh prevailed once more three years later to deny Dallas back-to-back titles.
Jackie Smith missed a chance to score a touchdown for Dallas, and MVP Terry Bradshaw completed four touchdown passes. After a valiant attempt by Roger Staubach, the Steelers prevailed 35–31 in the Super Bowl.
