1999 NFL Preview
NFL
Scores/Schedules
Standings
Statistics
Transactions
Injuries
Players
Weekly lineup

 Monday, September 6
A second run at three in a row
 
By Greg Garber
Special to ESPN.com

 Six teams have won back-to-back Super Bowls and then failed to win for a third consecutive time. The 1997-98 Denver Broncos will be the seventh club to chase the elusive threepeat. That's a nice little trivia question, but here's a better one ...

 Bill Romanowski
Bill Romanowski is one of three NFL players to get two shots at the elusive threepeat.

And the final Jeopardy answer is: Bill Romanowski, Marv Fleming and Charles Haley.

The question: Which three NFL players have had not one, but two chances to threepeat with two different teams?

"When you win a Super Bowl, that's a feeling you just want to keep having," says Romanowski, the Broncos' manic linebacker. "That high is so intense that I just want to keep winning for that reason. It's like I'm trying to catch that high again. I'm an addict -- addicted to winning Super Bowls."

Fleming, a tight end with the Green Bay Packers when they won the first two Super Bowls, also played for the Miami Dolphins when they won consecutive titles in 1972-73. Haley played with Romanowski on the great San Francisco 49ers teams of 1988-89 and later with the 1992-93 Dallas Cowboys.

And then there is Denver general manager Neal Dahlen, another answer to a terrific trivia question. He was an administrator with the 49ers teams Romanowski and Haley played on and was the Broncos' director of player personnel the last two seasons. Factor in his 17-year tenure with the 49ers and his teams have won seven Super Bowls, more than any other person.

"It's so difficult to win three straight," Dahlen says. "It's presumptuous to even talk about it until maybe you've made the playoffs and won your first game."

Romanowski begs to differ. He remembers the raucous San Francisco locker room after the 55-10 Super Bowl XXIV victory over Denver. The 49ers' mantra: "Threepeat! Threepeat!"

The last words from Denver coach Mike Shanahan after Super Bowl XXIII were, "Offseason workouts start tomorrow, because we're going for three."

Athletes love a challenge, Romanowski says.

"And I think the Denver Broncos this year love the challenge," he adds. "I was in a position to do that with San Francisco. We didn't get it done. To ever think that I would get that chance again, I really didn't think I would.

"I can't wait."



 


ALSO SEE
Garber: Threepeat quite a feat

Focal Point: Who will ruin threepeat?