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Tonight, the Kansas City Chiefs will begin their quest to become the first team to win three consecutive Super Bowls. Eight previous teams have tried, but each one was unable to go the distance. You could say that the Chiefs are taking on Mission: Impossible, but is anyone actually counting Patrick Mahomes, Andy Reid and Travis Kelce out? 

The short answer is no, not after watching the Chiefs become the first team since the Tom Brady/Bill Belichick early 2000s Patriots to successfully repeat. Not after watching Mahomes and Co. win the AFC last year for a fourth time since 2019. Not after watching the Chiefs take their postseason magic on the road with wins over Buffalo and Baltimore en route to another Super Bowl win over an extremely talented 49ers squad. 

Speaking of Baltimore, John Harbaugh's team will be the Chiefs' first opponent in what Kansas City hopes will be an historic season. In order to get an idea of how tonight might go, we looked back at how the previous five repeat champions fared in Week 1. As you'll soon find out, the Chiefs are hoping that history repeats itself. 

2005 Patriots 

  • Week 1 result: 30-20 win vs. Raiders 

This game is more remembered for being Randy Moss' first game as a Raider. Moss, who ironically would later play a major role in the Patriots historic 2007 season, scored a 73-yard touchdown that night to give the visitors a 14-10 lead midway through the second quarter. 

Oakland's lead proved to be short-lived. New England proceeded to score three unanswered touchdowns that included a pair of scoring runs by Corey Dillon as the Patriots cruised to a 10-point win behind Tom Brady's 306 passing yards. Moss finished with 130 yards on five catches (while being targeted a whopping 15 times), but Patriots wideout Deion Branch matched him with seven grabs for 99 yards and a score of his own. 

1999 Broncos 

  • Week 1 result: 38-21 loss vs. Dolphins 

Miami turned the tables on Denver eight months after the Broncos' 38-3 trouncing over them in the AFC divisional round. Miami still had their future Hall of Fame quarterback in Dan Marino, while Denver's future Hall of fame signal caller -- John Elway -- had retired that offseason after winning MVP honors in the previous year's Super Bowl. 

Elway's replacement, second-year quarterback Brian Griese, actually had a better statistical game than Marino. He had a lot of success whenever he threw to Ed McCaffrey, who caught six passes for 105 yards and three touchdowns. But Denver could not overcome two scoring drives by Miami -- one before the half and one at the start of the second half -- that proved to be the difference. 

The big play during that sequence was Marino's 25-yard completion to Tony Martin on a third-and-11 play that turned into a 40-yard gain following an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty on Broncos defender Ray Crockett. The drive ended with a short Dolphins touchdown run that gave the visiting team a 24-7 lead early in the third quarter. 

A fumble return for a score by future Hall of Famer Jason Taylor late in the fourth quarter served as the dagger. 

1994 Cowboys

Dallas and Pittsburgh would actually play each other in the following year's Super Bowl. But while their Super Bowl matchup was competitive, this game was anything but. With new head coach Barry Switzer at the helm, the Cowboys dominated a Steelers team that (like the Cowboys) would get to within a game of that year's Super Bowl. 

As they often did, the Cowboys' triplets of Troy Aikman, Emmitt Smith and Michael Irvin played key roles in the win. Aikman was a workmanlike 21 of 32 for 245 yards, which included completions of 38 yards to Irvin (who caught eight passes for 139 yards) and 37 yards to Alvin Harper. Smith gashed Pittsburgh's "Blitzburgh" defense for 171 yards on 31 carries that included a 46-yard run. 

Not to be outshined was a Cowboys defense that sacked Pittsburgh quarterback Neil O'Donnell nine times while holding him to just 13 of 26 passing. O'Donnell's biggest harasser was future Hall of Fame pass rusher Charley Haley, who tallied four sacks. 

1990 49ers 

Week 1 result: 13-12 win vs. Saints 

The team that has gotten closest to getting the elusive three-peat, the 49ers' 1990 season started with a grimy, one-point win over the Saints that was decided by Mike Cofer's game-winning, 38-yard field goal. 

While it was a forgettable day for Joe Montana, Jerry Rice and the rest of the 49ers' high-flying offense, the win was an example of how good San Francisco's often overlooked defense was in those years. Spearheaded by future Hall of Fame safety Ronnie Lott's two interceptions, the 49ers' defense forced five turnovers while holding the Saints to just 11 first downs and 268 total yards. 

The play of the 49ers' defense nullified an equally impressive game from the Saints' "Dome Patrol" defense that was anchored by future Hall of Fame linebackers Rickey Jackson and Sam Mills and fellow linebacker and perennial All-Pro Pat Swilling. 

1980 Steelers 

  • Week 1 result: 31-17 win vs. Oilers 

This game was ultimately a mirage for the 1980 Steelers, who missed the playoffs that year after finishing with a 9-7 record. But on this day, the Steelers still appeared to be the same team that had dominated the NFL for the majority of the 1970s. The win came over a Houston team that had fallen to Pittsburgh in each of the previous two AFC title game. 

Pittsburgh jumped out to a 17-0 lead before Houston rallied to tie the score in the third quarter. The big play during the Oilers' comeback was future Hall of Fame running back Earl Campbell's 57-yard touchdown pass to Billy "White Shoes" Johnson on a trick play. Campbell actually ran for as many yards that day (57) as he accumulated on the touchdown pass. 

The Steelers responded with one of their patented scoring sprees that fittingly included a deep, 50-yard touchdown pass from Terry Bradshaw to John Stallworth that put the game on ice. 

Bradshaw wasn't great (12 of 24 for 254 yards with two touchdowns and two picks), but he was better than his counterpart, Ken Stabler, the former Raiders Hall of Fame quarterback, who threw five picks in his Oilers debut.