My favorite thing about the National Football league is the parity. But lately, that's been missing in the biggest game of the year.

The NFL has long prided itself on being the greatest reality TV show in the world. The drama is constant, and you never quite know what's going to happen next. It's the "any given Sunday' league. It's the league where you can fall from first to last just as quickly as you can rise from last to first. It's the league where one star can change everything for a franchise. Where once you get into the playoffs, most every team has a chance to win.

That's the elevator pitch for the NFL. But for nearly the past decade, that reputation falls flat when we reach the Super Bowl. The Chiefs and the Eagles just played in Super Bowl LIX, a rematch of their 2023 Super Bowl matchup. It's the first SB rematch since… last season, when the Chiefs faced the 49ers in a rematch of the 2020 SB.

When it feels like the same teams have been playing for the SB lately, it's because they have. In the last 8 years, there have been 8 Super Bowls. That means an opportunity for 16 different teams to play in the game, or half the league. But from 2018-2025, only 7 teams have made it to the final game of the season.

2018-2025

TEAM	YEARS
Eagles	2018, 2023, 2025
Patriots	2018, 2019
Rams	2019, 2022
Chiefs	2020, 2023, 2024, 2025
49ers	2020, 2024
Buccaneers	2021
Bengals	2022

Two of these 8 games have been rematches of 2 of the others. 5 of the 7 teams have been multiple times in this period, with the Eagles going three times and the Chiefs four. For the length of two full presidential terms, the AFC has been represented by just the Chiefs and Patriots with a brief Bengals cameo, and the NFC represented by the Eagles, Rams and 49ers, with a brief Buccaneers cameo. It's been painfully repetitive.

When you split the entire Super Bowl era up into these 8 year chunks going all the way back through the 70's, you realize just how unusual it's been. In fact the past 8 years (7 different teams, 5 making multiple trips) have been the least diverse run of Super Bowls ever, with the only era coming close being 1970-1977. During those eight years, 8 different teams went with 4 making multiple trips.

On average, every 8 years we've seen around 11 different teams play in the Super Bowl. Here's who we saw every 8 years dating back to 1970 for reference.

2010-2017

TEAM	YEAR
Saints	2010
Colts	2010
Packers	2011
Steelers	2011
Giants	2012
Patriots	2012, 2015, 2017
Ravens	2013
49ers	2013
Seahawks	2014, 2015
Broncos	2014, 2016
Panthers	2016
Falcons	2017

2002-2009

TEAM	YEAR
Patriots	2002, 2004, 2005, 2008
Rams	2002
Buccaneers	2003
Raiders	2003
Panthers	2004
Eagles	2005
Steelers	2006, 2009
Seahawks	2006
Colts	2007
Bears	2007
Giants	2008
Cardinals	2009

1994-2001

TEAM	YEAR
Cowboys	1994, 1996
Bills	1994
49ers	1995
Chargers	1995
Steelers	1996
Packers	1997, 1998
Patriots	1997
Broncos	1998, 1999
Falcons	1999
Rams	2000
Titans	2000
Ravens	2001
Giants	2001

1986-1993

TEAM	YEAR
Bears	1986
Patriots	1986
Giants	1987, 1991
Broncos	1987, 1988, 1990
Redskins	1988, 1990
49ers	1989, 1990
Bengals	1989
Bills	1991, 1992, 1993
Cowboys	1993

1978-1985

TEAM	YEAR
Cowboys	1978, 1979
Broncos	1978
Steelers	1979, 1980
Rams	1980
Raiders	1981, 1984
Eagles	1981
49ers	1982, 1985
Bengals	1982
Redskins	1983, 1984
Dolphins	1983, 1985

1970-1977

TEAM	YEAR
Chiefs	1970
Vikings	1970, 1974, 1975, 1977
Baltimore Colts	1971
Cowboys	1971, 1972, 1976
Dolphins	1972, 1973, 1974
Redskins	1973
Steelers	1975, 1976
Raiders	1977

The real pinnacle of NFL Super Bowl parity came between the Bills four consecutive losses from 1991-1994, and when the Tom Brady Patriots began their reign of terror going in 3 of 4 years beginning in 2002. In the 7 Super Bowls between those runs, 12 different teams played in the big game with only the Packers and Broncos going twice. Now that's parity!

But every era in the history of the Super Bowl has experienced more parity than the one we currently find ourselves in. I suppose that's the good news and the bad news of it all: it's never been worse than it is right now, but history tells us that parity is likely to reign supreme again soon. Let's hope that it does.

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