Which NFL Franchises Have Won the Most Super Bowls?

Though baseball is referred to as America’s pastime, it is actually the NFL that towers over all other major sports. They have become a monolith, the gold standard for generating and maintaining interest from fans.

Scarcity is their secret. Teams only play between 16 and 18 regular season games. Compare that to 82 in the NHL and NBA, along with 162 in MLB, and it’s easy to see how NFL contests become an event. They happen only once a week, for a few months out of each year.

On top of that, they’ve done a great job sustaining parity. It’s incredibly difficult for one franchise to run the tables for seasons at a time when every game matters so much and the playoffs unfold in a single elimination format. That is also why NFL betting and fantasy football are so popular: The results basically change every year, from the best players to the top teams to, of course, the Super Bowl winners.

In fact, the NFL has had just two squads win two championships in a row over the past 25 years. And it’s almost always been like that, even dating back to the earlier days, when the Super Bowl was first implemented, in 1967, and there were fewer teams. All you need to do is look back at the franchises that have the most titles in league history to see how broad the level of competition has been.

So, let’s do that.

1. New England Patriots and Pittsburgh Steelers (6)

“Julian Edelman | New England Patriots” by Seatacular is licensed under CC BY-NC-SA 2.0 

Right off the bat, you can spot the NFL’s parity level at work. The Super Bowl has been around for nearly 60 years, and no team has won more than six titles.

It comes as no surprise the Steelers sit atop this list. They were in the league from the beginning and are one of its flagship franchises. Their last victory came in 2009.

The Patriots, meanwhile, are among one of two or three dynasties the NFL has ever seen. They rattled off six Super Bowl wins in a 15-year span under Bill Belichick and with Tom Brady at quarterback; they are one of the two franchises that has tallied back-to-back titles since 1995.

2. Dallas Cowboys and San Francisco 49ers (5)

Both the Niners and Cowboys are also among the NFL’s flagship teams, as well. The Cowboys are actually referred to as America’s team.

Except, it’s been a rough go for America’s team of late. Dallas hasn’t won a Super Bowl since 1996. They also owe three of their five victories to a five-year span in the mid-90s.

San Francisco hasn’t picked up a Super Bowl in a similar amount of time. Their last win was in 1995, though they’ve made two appearances since then.

3. Green Bay Packers and New York Giants (4)

Yet another two flagship franchises take up spots in the top six. The Packers actually won the NFL’s first two Super Bowls; their most recent win came in 2006.

The Giants really popped in the 1990s. They won both of the Super Bowls they appeared in during that decade. They picked up another two during the Eli Manning era at quarterback, snagging championships in 2008 and 2012.

4. Denver Broncos, Washington Football Team, Oakland/Los Angeles Raiders (3)

“Denver Broncos vs Seattle Seahawks” by [email protected] is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0 

Hard times have befallen these three teams in the most recent decades. The Broncos are the only one among this trio to win a Super Bowl since 1992, when Washington grabbed one of theirs.

And while the Raiders used to be the belle of the playoff ball, they’ve been on a run of incompetence for the better part of 30 years. They won a Super Bowl in 1968, 1977 and 1981 but have largely missed the playoffs since.

5. Baltimore Ravens, Indianapolis Colts, Kansas City Chiefs, Miami Dolphins (3)

These are the last four NFL teams that have multiple Super Bowl victories.

Miami, for their part, hasn’t won a title since the 70s—in 1973 and 1974. The other three have been more relevant.

The Colts won their last Super Bowl in 2007. Some people get confused and think the Ravens have more victories than they actually do. The Colts used to hail from Baltimore, too. This Ravens franchise has just two titles, the most recent of which came in 2013.

As for the Chiefs, well, they have a chance to be the NFL’s next dynasty—an exception to the parity. Their superstar quarterback, Patrick Mahomes, is just 25, and he already picked up his first career Super Bowl victory in 2020. Odds are it won’t be his last.