The Super Bowl is a cultural phenomenon in the U.S., but the 32 NFL franchises vying for the Lombardi Trophy couldn’t care less about that. For those players, coaches and owners, it’s about reaching the pinnacle of the sport.
The vast majority of those fortunate and skilled enough to make it to the NFL will never make it to the Super Bowl. Even fewer will ever win it.
But some franchises have managed to reach the mountaintop over and over again. Those are the teams in this list.
Which Team Has the Most Super Bowl Wins?
The New England Patriots and Pittsburgh Steelers are tied at the top with six Super Bowl victories each.
Two teams have won five Super Bowls, the Dallas Cowboys and San Francisco 49ers. The Green Bay Packers, Kansas City Chiefs and New York Giants each have four.
From the innovation of Vince Lombardi to the tactical expertise of Bill Belichick, these franchises were led throughout the decades by some of the best coaches and players in league history.
Teams with the Most Super Bowl Wins:
Brady, Belichick and the New England Patriots’ 20-year Dynasty
Bill Belichick was hired by the Patriots in 2000 and selected Michigan quarterback Tom Brady during his first draft with the team. Those two went on to make the Patriots the premier franchise in the NFL for the next 20 seasons.
The Patriots made nine Super Bowls between 2002 and 2019, winning six of them and cementing the status of Belichick and Brady as the greatest of all time.
Belichick is currently second all time in career wins (333), while Brady is the winningest quarterback in NFL history (251).
Many consider the Patriots’ run to be the most impressive in history due to the team’s success in the free-agency era.
The Pittsburgh Steelers’ Six Super Bowl Titles
The Steelers are regarded as one of the best-run franchises in the history of the league. Pittsburgh has had just four head coaches since 1966 and has finished under .500 just nine times in that span.
The team’s first Super Bowl victory came in 1975 and the most recent was in 2009. Pittsburgh’s sustained success with different coaches and core players is cited as the most impressive aspect of the franchise. The Steelers won at least one championship in the 1970s, ’80s and 2000s.
The team’s most-successful run featured four championships within a six-year period between 1975–1980. Terry Bradshaw led the team to all four wins and won an MVP award during that span.
The Dallas Cowboys and San Francisco 49ers: Five-Time Super Bowl Champions
The 49ers have made eight Super Bowls, winning five of them between 1982–1995. Quarterback Joe Montana led the team to four victories, winning three Super Bowl MVP awards in the process.
Steve Young was quarterback for the team’s fifth win, throwing for a Super Bowl-record six touchdown passes in Super Bowl XXIX.
San Francisco’s success came under two different coaches (Bill Walsh and George Seifert) and two quarterbacks (Montana and Young). However, the team continued to use Walsh’s West Coast offense after his retirement.
The Cowboys became “America’s Team” during the 1970s, with the meteoric rise of Roger Staubach. Staubach led Dallas to five Super Bowls in the ’70s, winning two of them. The man they called “Roger the Dodger” was so popular that the league welcomed many new viewers to the sport throughout the decade.
However, it was not the Cowboys' most successful run.
Dallas had three superstars on offense in the 1990s—Troy Aikman, Michael Irvin and Emmitt Smith. This trio led the Cowboys to three Super Bowl wins in four seasons (1992, 1993 and 1995).
All three wins came by at least 10 points. Jimmy Johnson was head coach for two, with former Oklahoma Sooners head coach Barry Switzer winning the third.
Which Teams Have the Most Super Bowl Appearances?
While the Cowboys lead all NFL franchises in playoff appearances (36), the Patriots have made the most Super Bowls, doing so 11 times. Nine of those came between 2000–2019.
The Steelers, Cowboys, 49ers and Denver Broncos are all tied in second place with eight appearances apiece.
Patrick Mahomes has led the Kansas City Chiefs to four Super Bowls in the last five years, making the franchise the lone NFL team with six appearances.
Six different teams have appeared five times in the Big Game: the Washington Commanders, Green Bay Packers, Miami Dolphins, New York Giants, Las Vegas Raiders and Los Angeles Rams.
List of Teams with the Most Super Bowl Appearances:
Other Teams with Multiple Super Bowl Wins
The Chiefs’ recent dynasty has tied the franchise with the Packers and Giants with four Super Bowl victories.
The Packers won the first two Super Bowls (1966 and 1967) but had to wait 30 years for the next win, which came in Super Bowl XXXI. The team’s most recent Super Bowl victory capped off the 2010 season.
Two of the biggest upsets in Super Bowl history belong to the Giants, with the team upsetting the Patriots on both occasions. Super Bowl LXII saw New England enter undefeated, but the Giants stopped a perfect season. Four years later, the teams met again, with the underdog Giants getting the victory in Super Bowl XLVI. The franchise also won Super Bowls XXI and XXV.
The Broncos won back-to-back Super Bowls in 1997 and 1998, sending quarterback John Elway out on top. Nearly 20 years later, the team would send another legend—this time Peyton Manning—out on a high note.
List of Other Teams with Multiple Super Bowl Wins:
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Which Team Has the Most Super Bowl Wins in History?.
