The Super Bowl was held in January from its inception in
1967 until
2001. In
2002, a week of regular season games was postponed and rescheduled following the
September 11 attacks; as a result,
Super Bowl XXXVI became the first edition of the game played in February.
Super Bowl XXXVII was held in January, but all subsequent games were held on the first Sunday in February until the schedule expansion of the
2021 season moved the game to the second Sunday. The current
NFL schedule begins on the weekend immediately after
Labor Day (the first Monday in September). That weekend is the first of an 18-week
regular season, followed by three weeks of
playoff games and one week for the
Pro Bowl. The Super Bowl is contested the week after the Pro Bowl. This schedule has been in effect since an 18th week and 17th regular season game were added to the NFL schedule for the 2021 season, with
Super Bowl LVI on February 13, 2022, the first to be played under this format. The
Pittsburgh Steelers and
New England Patriots are tied with a record six Super Bowl wins. The
Dallas Cowboys and
San Francisco 49ers have five victories each, while the Packers, Chiefs and
New York Giants have four. Fourteen other NFL franchises have won at least one Super Bowl. The Patriots own the record for most Super Bowl appearances with twelve. The Cowboys, Steelers, Broncos and the 49ers are tied for second with eight appearances apiece, reaching that milestone in this respective order.
Bill Belichick owns the record for the most Super Bowl wins (eight) and appearances (twelve: nine times as head coach, once as assistant head coach, and twice as defensive coordinator) by an individual.
Tom Brady has the most Super Bowl starts (ten) and wins as a player (seven), while
Charles Haley has the second-most wins among players with five. Eight teams have appeared in Super Bowl games without a win. The
Minnesota Vikings were the first team to appear four times without a win, while the
Buffalo Bills played in a record four consecutive Super Bowls, losing all four matches. The Patriots have the most Super Bowl losses at six. The
Cleveland Browns,
Detroit Lions,
Houston Texans, and
Jacksonville Jaguars are the four teams to have never appeared in a Super Bowl, although the Browns and Lions both won NFL championships before the Super Bowl era. The Jaguars, who began play in 1995, and the Texans, who began play in 2002, are among the youngest franchises in the league.
1960s: Early history and Packers dominance The Packers won the first two AFL–NFL World Championship Games, later renamed Super Bowls, defeating the
Kansas City Chiefs and
Oakland Raiders following the and seasons, respectively. The Packers were led by quarterback
Bart Starr, who was named the
Most Valuable Player (MVP) for both games. These two championships, coupled with the Packers' NFL championships in , , and , amount to the most successful stretch in NFL History; five championships in seven years, and the second
threepeat in NFL history (1965, 1966, and 1967). The Packers are the only team to threepeat, as they also accomplished the feat in the pre-playoff era (1929, 1930 and 1931). The first playoff game in the NFL was in
1932. In Super Bowl III, the AFL's
New York Jets defeated the 19.5-point favorite Baltimore Colts of the NFL, 16–7. The Jets were led by quarterback
Joe Namath, who had said that he guaranteed a Jets win before the game, and former Colts head coach
Weeb Ewbank, and their victory demonstrated that the AFL was competitive with the NFL. This was reinforced the following year when the Chiefs defeated the NFL's Vikings 23–7 in
Super Bowl IV.
1970s: Dominant franchises After the
AFL–NFL merger was completed in 1970, three franchises—the Cowboys,
Miami Dolphins, and Steelers—would go on to dominate the 1970s, winning a combined eight Super Bowls between them in the decade, with the Steelers winning four of the eight. The Baltimore Colts, now a member of the AFC, would start the decade by defeating the Cowboys in Super Bowl V, a game which is the only Super Bowl to date in which a player from the losing team won the Super Bowl MVP (Cowboys' linebacker
Chuck Howley). Beginning with this Super Bowl, all Super Bowls have served as the NFL's championship game. The Cowboys, coming back from a loss the previous season, won
Super Bowl VI over the Dolphins. However, this would be the Dolphins' final loss for over a year, as
the next year, the Dolphins would go 14–0 in the regular season and eventually win all their playoff games, capped off with a 14–7 victory in
Super Bowl VII, becoming the first and only team in the Super Bowl era to finish an entire perfect regular and postseason undefeated. The Dolphins would repeat as league champions by winning
Super Bowl VIII a year later with a 24–7 win over the Minnesota Vikings. In the mid to late 1970s, the Steelers became the first NFL dynasty of the post-merger era by winning four Super Bowls (
IX,
X,
XIII, and
XIV) in six years. They were led by head coach
Chuck Noll, the play of offensive stars
Terry Bradshaw,
Franco Harris,
Lynn Swann,
John Stallworth, and
Mike Webster, and their dominant "
Steel Curtain" defense, led by
"Mean" Joe Greene,
L. C. Greenwood,
Ernie Holmes,
Mel Blount,
Jack Ham, and
Jack Lambert. Many of the team's key players were selected in the
1974 draft, in which Pittsburgh selected four future Hall of Famers, the most for any team in any sport in a single draft. A fifth player,
Donnie Shell, was signed by Pittsburgh after going unselected in the 1974 NFL draft; he too was later enshrined in the Hall of Fame. The Steelers were the first team to win three and then four Super Bowls and appeared in six
AFC Championship Games during the decade, making the playoffs in eight straight seasons. Pittsburgh still remains the only team to win back-to-back Super Bowls twice and four Super Bowls in a six-year period. The Steelers' 1970s dynasty was interrupted only by the Raiders' first Super Bowl win in
Super Bowl XI and the Cowboys' second Super Bowl win in
Super Bowl XII. Conversely, the Vikings, with their
Purple People Eaters defense, were the only other team to appear in multiple Super Bowls (IV, VIII, IX and XI) during the decade but failed to win each one.
1980s and 1990s: The NFC's winning streak In the 1980s and 1990s, the tables turned for the AFC, as the NFC dominated the Super Bowls of the new decade and most of those in the 1990s. The NFC won 16 of the 20 Super Bowls during these two decades, including 13 straight from
Super Bowl XIX to
Super Bowl XXXI. The most successful team of the 1980s was the 49ers, which featured the
West Coast offense of Hall of Fame head coach
Bill Walsh. This offense was led by three-time Super Bowl MVP and Hall of Fame quarterback
Joe Montana, Super Bowl MVP and Hall of Fame wide receiver
Jerry Rice, Hall of Fame running back
Roger Craig, and Hall of Fame defensive safety/cornerback
Ronnie Lott. Under their leadership, the 49ers won four Super Bowls in the decade (
XVI,
XIX,
XXIII, and
XXIV) and made nine playoff appearances between 1981 and 1990, including eight division championships, becoming the second dynasty of the post-merger NFL. The
1984 San Francisco 49ers were the first team to achieve an 18–1 record, doing so under Walsh. The
1989 San Francisco 49ers, under first-year head coach
George Seifert, posted the most lop-sided victory in Super Bowl history, defeating the Denver Broncos by a score of 55–10 in
Super Bowl XXIV. The 1980s also produced the
1985 Chicago Bears, who posted an 18–1 record under head coach
Mike Ditka; quarterback
Jim McMahon; and Hall of Fame running back
Walter Payton. Their team won
Super Bowl XX in dominant fashion. The
Washington Redskins and New York Giants were also top teams of this period; Washington won Super Bowls
XVII,
XXII, and
XXVI. The Giants claimed Super Bowls
XXI and
XXV. Both teams won multiple Super Bowls with different starting quarterbacks; Washington won with
Joe Theismann (XVII),
Doug Williams (XXII) and
Mark Rypien (XXVI), and the Giants with
Phil Simms (XXI) and
Jeff Hostetler (XXV). As in the 1970s, the Raiders were the only AFC team to interrupt the Super Bowl dominance of NFC teams; they won Super Bowls
XV and
XVIII (the latter as the Los Angeles Raiders). Conversely, the
Cincinnati Bengals (XVI and XXIII), Dolphins, (XVII and XIX), and Broncos (XXI, XXII and XXIV) made multiple Super Bowls in the 1980s without winning one. Following several seasons with poor records in the 1980s, the Cowboys rose back to prominence in the 1990s. During this decade, the Cowboys made post-season appearances every year except for the seasons of 1990 and 1997. From 1992 to 1996, the Cowboys won their division championship each year. In this same period, the Buffalo Bills reached the Super Bowl for a record four consecutive years, but lost all four (XXV-XXVIII). After Super Bowl championships by division rivals New York (1990) and Washington (1991), the Cowboys won three of the next four Super Bowls (
XXVII,
XXVIII, and
XXX) led by quarterback
Troy Aikman, running back
Emmitt Smith, and wide receiver
Michael Irvin. All three of these players went to the Hall of Fame. The Cowboys' streak was interrupted by the
49ers, who were the first team to win their league-leading fifth title overall with
Super Bowl XXIX with a dominant performance featuring the Super Bowl MVP and Hall of Fame quarterback
Steve Young (who threw a Super Bowl record 6 touchdown passes), Hall of Fame wide receiver
Jerry Rice, and Hall of Fame cornerback
Deion Sanders; however, the Cowboys' victory in Super Bowl XXX the next year also gave them five titles overall and they did so with Sanders after he won the Super Bowl the previous year with the 49ers. The NFC's winning streak was continued by the Packers led by Hall of Fame quarterback
Brett Favre, won
Super Bowl XXXI, their first championship since Super Bowl II in 1967. The Patriots made their maiden Super Bowl appearances in XX (1985) and XXXI (1996) but lost both times. However, the turn of the century would soon bring hope and glory to the franchise.
2000s: AFC resurgence and the rise of the Patriots Super Bowl XXXII saw quarterback
John Elway and running back
Terrell Davis lead the Denver Broncos to an upset victory over the defending champion Packers, snapping the NFC's thirteen-year winning streak. The following year, the Broncos defeated the
Atlanta Falcons in
Super Bowl XXXIII, Elway's fifth Super Bowl appearance, his second NFL championship, and his final NFL game. The back-to-back victories heralded a change in momentum in which AFC teams would win nine out of 12 Super Bowls. In the years between 1995 and 2018, five teams—the Steelers, Patriots, Broncos,
Baltimore Ravens, and
Indianapolis Colts—accounted for 22 of the 24 AFC Super Bowl appearances (including the last 16), with those same teams often meeting each other earlier in the playoffs. In contrast, the NFC saw a different representative in the Super Bowl every season from 2001 through 2010. The New England Patriots became the dominant team throughout the early 2000s, winning the championship three out of four years early in the decade. They would become only the second team in the history of the NFL to do so (after the 1990s Dallas Cowboys). In
Super Bowl XXXVI, first-year starting quarterback
Tom Brady led his team to a 20–17 upset victory over the
St. Louis Rams, who two seasons earlier won
Super Bowl XXXIV. Brady would go on to win the MVP award for this game. The Patriots also won Super Bowls
XXXVIII and
XXXIX defeating the
Carolina Panthers and the
Philadelphia Eagles respectively. This four-year stretch of Patriot dominance was interrupted by the
Tampa Bay Buccaneers' 48–21
Super Bowl XXXVII victory over the Oakland Raiders. The Steelers and Colts continued the era of AFC dominance by winning Super Bowls
XL and
XLI in the 2005 and 2006 seasons, respectively defeating the
Seattle Seahawks and
Chicago Bears. In the
2007 season, the Patriots became the fourth team in NFL history to have a perfect unbeaten and untied regular-season record, the second in the Super Bowl era after the 1972 Miami Dolphins, and the first to finish 16–0. They easily marched through the AFC playoffs and were heavy favorites in
Super Bowl XLII. However, they lost that game to
Eli Manning and the New York Giants 17–14, leaving the Patriots' 2007 record at 18–1. The following season, the Steelers logged their record sixth Super Bowl title (
XLIII) in a 27–23, final-minute victory against the
Arizona Cardinals. The 2009 season saw the
New Orleans Saints defeat the Indianapolis Colts in
Super Bowl XLIV by a score of 31–17 to take home their first championship. With this victory, the Saints joined the New York Jets as the only teams to have won in their sole Super Bowl appearance, a distinction the Ravens also enjoyed in winning
Super Bowl XXXV after the 2000 season and the Buccaneers in 2002.
2010s: Patriots reign; parity in the NFC postgame speech after
Super Bowl LI, February 5, 2017 are presented with the
Vince Lombardi Trophy after winning
Super Bowl LII, February 4, 2018. In the AFC, this era was dominated by the Patriots, with the only four other teams to represent the conference being the Steelers, Ravens, Broncos, and Chiefs. The Patriots had tied a record with the 1970s Dallas Cowboys for most Super Bowl appearances in a decade with five appearances (2011, 2014, 2016, 2017, 2018). The Patriots also had four Super Bowl appearances in five years. They also had eight consecutive AFC championship appearances spanning 2011–2018. The Super Bowls of the 2000s and 2010s saw strong performances from several of the participating quarterbacks, especially on the AFC side with repeated appearances by the same teams and players. In particular, Tom Brady,
Ben Roethlisberger, or
Peyton Manning appeared as the AFC team's quarterback in all but two of the Super Bowls from 2001 through 2018. Conversely, the only NFC teams to make the Super Bowl multiple times with the same quarterback in this era were the Seahawks, led by quarterback
Russell Wilson, and the Giants, led by quarterback Eli Manning. One of these teams was featured in the culmination of the
2010 season,
Super Bowl XLV, which brought the Packers their fourth Super Bowl victory and record thirteenth NFL championship overall with the defeat of the Steelers in February 2011. This became
Aaron Rodgers' only Super Bowl victory. The following year, in
Super Bowl XLVI, the Patriots made their first appearance of the decade, a position where they would become a mainstay. The Patriots, however, lost to the Eli Manning-led Giants, 21–17, who had beaten the Patriots four years before. This was the Giants' fourth Super Bowl victory. In
Super Bowl XLVII, the NFC's 49ers were defeated by the Ravens 34–31. The game had been dubbed as the 'Harbaugh Bowl' in the weeks leading up to the game, due to the fact that the coaches of the two teams,
John Harbaugh and
Jim Harbaugh, are brothers. During the third quarter, the Ravens had a commanding 28–6 lead. However, there was a
blackout in New Orleans, where the game was being played. The game was delayed for 34 minutes, and after play resumed, San Francisco stormed back with 17 straight points, but still lost.
Super Bowl XLVIII, played at
New Jersey's
MetLife Stadium in February 2014, was the first Super Bowl held outdoors in a cold-weather environment. The Seahawks won their first NFL title with a 43–8 defeat of the Broncos, in a highly touted matchup that pitted Seattle's top-ranked defense against a Peyton Manning-led Denver offense that had broken the NFL's single-season scoring record. In
Super Bowl XLIX, the Patriots beat the defending Super Bowl champions, the Seahawks, by a score of 28–24. Down by 10, the Patriots mounted a late fourth quarter comeback to win the game with Tom Brady scoring two touchdowns in the fourth quarter. In a key play in the final seconds of the game, then-rookie free agent
Malcolm Butler would intercept a pass by Russell Wilson at the one-yard line, allowing the Patriots to run out the clock and end the game. Tom Brady was awarded his third Super Bowl MVP, tying Joe Montana for the most Super Bowl MVP awards. In
Super Bowl 50, the first Super Bowl to be branded with
Arabic numerals, the Broncos, led by the league's top-ranked defense, defeated the Panthers, who had the league's top-ranked offense, in what became the final game of quarterback Peyton Manning's career.
Von Miller dominated, totaling 2.5 sacks and forcing two
Cam Newton fumbles; both fumbles leading to Broncos touchdowns. In
Super Bowl LI, the first Super Bowl to end in overtime, the Atlanta Falcons led 28–3 late in the third quarter, but the Patriots came back to tie the game 28–28 with back-to-back touchdowns and two-point conversions, and the Patriots went on to win 34–28 in overtime. This 25-point deficit was the largest comeback win for any team in a Super Bowl, breaking the previous of a 10-point deficit to come back and win. The Patriots never held the lead until the game-winning touchdown in overtime. It was Tom Brady's 5th Super Bowl win and he was awarded his record fourth Super Bowl MVP, throwing a then-record 466 yards for 43 completions. In
Super Bowl LII, the Philadelphia Eagles defeated the defending champion Patriots 41–33, ending a 57-year championship drought for the franchise.
Nick Foles won the Super Bowl MVP. The Patriots totaled 613 yards in defeat, with Tom Brady breaking his previous Super Bowl record of 466 passing yards with an all-time playoff record of 505 passing yards in the high-scoring game; while the Eagles would gain 538 yards in the victory. The combined total for both teams of 1,151 yards of offense broke an NFL record (for any game) that had stood for nearly seven decades. The Patriots' 33 points were the highest losing score in Super Bowl history, a record held until 2023, when the Eagles lost
Super Bowl LVII to the
Kansas City Chiefs by a score of 38–35. It was the Eagles' third Super Bowl appearance and their first win in franchise history. With the Eagles' victory, the
NFC East became the first division to have each team win at least one Super Bowl. While Super Bowl LII produced the second highest-scoring Super Bowl, the following year's
Super Bowl LIII became the lowest-scoring Super Bowl. The Patriots defeated the
Los Angeles Rams, 13–3. In so doing, they became the team with the lowest point total by a winning team in Super Bowl history. Tom Brady would receive a record sixth Super Bowl championship, the most of any player in NFL history, surpassing his tie with Charles Haley for five wins. Brady would also become the oldest player to ever win a Super Bowl at age 41, while
Bill Belichick would be the oldest coach to ever win a Super Bowl at age 66. Wide receiver
Julian Edelman was named Super Bowl MVP.
2020s: Beginning of the Chiefs' dominance In
Super Bowl LIV, the Chiefs defeated the 49ers in a comeback, 31–20, for their first Super Bowl title in 50 years. This victory marked the first time since 1991 that the NFC did not have more Super Bowl victories than the AFC. The Patriots were absent; after making it to the Super Bowl in each of the last three years and winning two of them, they had lost in the Wild Card round of the
playoffs to the
Tennessee Titans 20–13. That game represented Tom Brady's final game as a New England Patriot. In
Super Bowl LV, which took place in
Tampa, Florida, the Tampa Bay Buccaneers defeated the defending champion Chiefs, 31–9. No player on the Buccaneers who scored points (
Rob Gronkowski,
Antonio Brown,
Leonard Fournette, and
Ryan Succop) was on the Buccaneers' roster the previous season. This marked a record seventh Super Bowl victory for
Tom Brady, also more than any individual NFL franchise, and who would also break his own record for the oldest quarterback to win a championship at 43 years old. Tampa Bay head coach
Bruce Arians would also break
Bill Belichick's record for the oldest head coach to win a championship at 68. Super Bowl LV also marked the first time in the history of the modern league that a host city's professional football franchise got to play in a Super Bowl that was hosted in their
home stadium.
A year later in
Inglewood, California, the
Los Angeles Rams defeated the
Cincinnati Bengals 23–20 to win Super Bowl LVI, becoming the second team to win the Super Bowl in its home stadium. On
February 12, 2023, at
State Farm Stadium in
Glendale, Arizona, the Chiefs overcame a 10-point deficit at halftime to defeat the Philadelphia Eagles 38–35, winning Super Bowl LVII on a last-minute field goal. On
February 11, 2024, the Chiefs won Super Bowl LVIII at
Allegiant Stadium on an overtime touchdown. The first Super Bowl in
Las Vegas, this was a rematch of Super Bowl LIV between the 49ers and the Chiefs, and was the Chiefs' fourth Super Bowl appearance in five years. The second Super Bowl to go into overtime, the Chiefs came back from another 10-point deficit to win their third Super Bowl in five years and secure back-to-back championships for the first time since the
2004 New England Patriots. On
February 9, 2025, at the
Caesars Superdome in New Orleans,
Patrick Mahomes went to his fifth Super Bowl since he became the starting
quarterback. This made the Chiefs the first team in NFL history to win back-to-back Super Bowls and then appear in the Super Bowl again the following year, and also the first team in NFL history to play in five Super Bowls over a six-year period. The Chiefs played the
Philadelphia Eagles in Super Bowl LIX. This was the second time the Chiefs rematched another team in the Super Bowl. The Eagles successfully avenged their Super Bowl LVII defeat, winning 40–22 after leading 34–0 at the end of the third quarter and preventing the Chiefs from becoming the first team to win
three straight Super Bowl championships.
Jalen Hurts was named Super Bowl MVP. On
February 8, 2026 at
Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara, California, the
Seattle Seahawks faced the
New England Patriots. The game had a slow start, going 12–0 in the first half with four Seahawks field goals. The second half had a bit more action with a Seattle touchdown and interception. The Seahawks shutout the Patriots for the first three quarters of the Super Bowl LX, leading 12–0 without scoring any touchdowns. The Patriots eventually managed to score 13 points, but could not win. In the end, the Seahawks defeated the Patriots 29–13, making back to back super bowls where the teams avenge their defeat in a previous super bowl. Running back
Kenneth Walker III was named Super Bowl MVP. ==Television coverage and ratings==