How Difficult is it to Three-Peat?

It's been said that it's hard to win one championship, and it is. However, winning that big one is an amazing feat. Winning back-to-back, that's even better. I've seen my share of back-to-back defending champions in sports, and that's a big moment to enter the season having been on top for two years straight. Of course, winning back-to-back is called a repeat. If a third one follows, we have the iconic "three-peat."

The first time I heard that term, "three-peat," was in 1993, when the Chicago Bulls won that year, the team's third straight (and third overall). That term was coined back in 1985, and it's been a popular word ever since then. Three-peating automatically turns teams into dynasties, as a dynasty is created when a team wins three times in five years. However, it's a difficult feat. It's been a long time since a team has won three big ones in a row in any of North America's top leagues. Here's a look of each main league's last three-peat.

NBA

I mentioned the Chicago Bulls' three-peat. It was actually our first of two three-peats, as after the Houston Rockets won back-to-back in 1994 and 1995, the Bulls won three more times in 1996, 1997, and 1998. However, in the NBA, the last three-peat occurred when the Los Angeles Lakers dominated in the turn of the millennium. I remember those years, I was in high school at the time, and the Lakers were on the rise with Shaquille O'Neal as their top center, and their red-hot young superstar: Kobe Bean Bryant. Something told me, during that 1999-2000 season, that the Lakers would win it all, and that year they did. The centerpiece of that run was a memorable seven-game Western Conference Finals against the Portland Trail Blazers, with the Lakers winning to advance to the NBA Finals for the first time since 1991.

The Lakers defeated the Reggie Miller-led Indiana Pacers in six games to win their first NBA Championship since the "Showtime" era. In the following year, the Lakers repeated in a run that saw them go 15-1 (at the time, the first round was best-of-five), with their one and only loss coming in Game One of that year's NBA Finals. The Lakers defeated the Allen Iverson-led Philadelphia 76ers in five games, and in 2002, they swept the New Jersey Nets to complete the three-peat. The amazing thing: the Lakers were coached by the iconic Phil Jackson during those years, the same man who coached both Bulls' three-peats.

MLB

For Major League Baseball, the three-peat drought's just a wee bit longer. The same year that saw the Lakers begin their NBA three-peat, the New York Yankees' three-peat was completed. We all remember the Yankee dynasty that came with Joe Torre as our skipper, as well as that Core Four: Derek Jeter, Jorge Posada, Andy Pettitte, and Mariano Rivera, though Bernie Williams could have made it a Core Five. The Yankees won the whole thing in 1996--the team's first ring since 1978, but after an early eiit in 1997, the Yanks got back on track.

1998 saw the Yankees win a franchise record 114 games and dominate in the postseason, ending with a four game sweep over the San Diego Padres in the World Series. In 1999, the Yankees swept the Atlanta Braves, the team's second Fall Classic win over the Braves in four seasons. The win gave the Yankees our 25th championship, becoming the most successful franchises in major North American sports. 2000 was the Subway Series; the Yankees defeating the New York Mets in a five game Fall Classic to capture #26. No team has won back-to-back World Series (let alone three straight) since then.

NHL

In the National Hockey League, the last three-peat was so many ages ago. You'd have to go all the way back to the beginning of the 1980s for the most recent three-peat in that league, with the New York Islanders winning four straight Stanley Cups to kick off that decade. The Islanders debuted in 1972, and it was during their eighth season that the team hoisted the Stanley Cup for the first time after defeating the Philadelphia Flyers in six games. Cup #2 was a five game victory over the Minnesota North Stars, and the next two Cups came in sweeps over the Vancouver Canucks (1982) and the Wayne Gretzky-led Edmonton Oilers (1983)--the latter of whom went on to defeat the Isles in 1984.

The Islanders haven't won a Cup since, and also, no NHL team has won three straight since the Isles' early-80s four-peat. The NHL has seen quite a few back-to-back championships: the Oilers did it twice, the Pittsburgh Penguins did it twice, the Detroit Red Wings did it in the late 90s, and the Tampa Bay Lightning were the most recent team to win back-to-back. In each instant, the three-peat attempts were kiboshed, though the Lightning were the only team from that bunch to actually return to the Final with a chance to three-peat in 2022. We all know how that ended.

So what inspired this piece? Well, it's simple:

Kansas City Chiefs

In the near six-decade history of the Super Bowl, no team has won three in a row. The Green Bay Packers were the first to win back-to-back, winning the first two Super Bowls, and while we've seen a number of back-to-back wins, that third one has never occurred. The 70s Steelers, the 80s 49ers, the 90s Cowboys, and the Brady/Belichick Patriots have done the back-to-back thing, but no three-peats from any of them.

Even during the era of the pre-Super Bowl NFL Championship Game (1933-1965), there have been no three-peats. To find a three-peat in the NFL, you have to go all the way back to the league's first 13 years of existence, and go back over 90 years. Back then, the league's standings determined the NFL Championship, and during that stretch, the Green Bay Packers, who hadn't won a title at the time, won three straight in 1929, 1930, and 1931. The Packers' 1929 season was an undefeated one, finishing 12-0-1 that year. In 1930, the Packers finished at 10-3-1, and would go 12-2 in 1931. Overall, this serves as the only three-peat in NFL history

Here it is, 93 years later, and the Kansas City Chiefs have a good opportunity to three-peat. They are the defending back-to-back Super Bowl Champions, having won Super Bowls LVII and LVIII, and while they are not the favorites to win Super Bowl LIX this year, one has to believe that they have a good chance to make that history. It won't be easy for them, though. Remember: last year was quite rough for the Chiefs, especially in the end of the regular season. Yet they somehow made it work.

They're not the only franchise looking to three-peat.

Las Vegas Aces

The WNBA has existed for close to three decades now, and the only three-peat came from the now-defunct Houston Comets, who won the league's first four championships. We haven't seen anything close to a dynasty in this league...until the Las Vegas Aces happened. Back-to-back championships, and now, the Aces appear to be on the verge of a third straight ring.

You know what I really love about this? I don't think the WNBA's ever had a "villainous" dynasty, if you will. We've seen it in sports so many times; the Yankees in MLB, the Patriots (and now the Chiefs) in the NFL, the Warriors in the NBA. Could the Aces be the WNBA equivalent of that ultimate heel faction? We'll see once the season progresses, but I know this: Becky Hammon will definitely embrace that role of being the Thanos of the WNBA if/when that dynasty is complete. Imagine if the world of wrestling caught this. We've seen NBA players actually play bad guys in wrestling. I can definitely see WWE or AEW having A'Ja Wilson and Kelsey Plum appear as a villainous duo, with an evil Becky Hammon leading them. Very delicious.

So yes, three-peating is very difficult. It requires a level of consistency that is hardly seen in sports. Teams go through changes even after winning the big one; the old saying, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it," doesn't really apply. No matter what happens after winning one championship, the following year could see either a repeat, or a bit of a decline, but even so, you have to get that same magic again to complete the three-peat. That's one reason why they're difficult.

Another reason for a lack of three-peats is parity. If a league has a lot of parity, it doesn't see a lot of dynasties. That immense parity is why no one has three-peated in the NHL in over 40 years. MLB has seen its Wild Cards get far and even win the whole thing, and while the NBA hasn't seen a three-peat in over 20 years, we are still seeing borderline dynasties. The NFL has basically had a dynasty (or something close to it) every decade, and right now, it looks like the Chiefs are that dynasty. Will they win their third Super Bowl this year? Will the Las Vegas Aces win their third straight WNBA crown this year. As usual, time will definitely tell the tale.