Super Bowl LV: Bucs-Chiefs rematch is the 14th in Super Bowl history

TAMPA, Fla. — It’s the mantra of Super Bowl teams that meet an opponent they lost to during the regular season.

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“You hurt me then/You’re back again.

“No, no, no/Not a second time.”

John Lennon and Paul McCartney certainly did not have Tom Brady in mind when they wrote “Not a Second Time” in 1963 for The Beatles -- Brady wasn’t born until 1977 -- but it is an appropriate lyric for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback. Super Bowl LV is the 14th matchup of teams that met during the regular season, and Brady has heard that song before -- in three previous rematch games.

Interestingly, teams that won the regular-season matchup are 6-7 in the Super Bowl, according to The Washington Post. The last Super Bowl to feature teams that met in the regular season was Super Bowl XLVII in February 2012. That season, the New York Giants defeated the New England Patriots 21-17 after also winning 24-20 during the regular season.

Brady is 1-2 in return games. He is hoping to even that record on Feb. 7 when the Buccaneers face the Kansas City Chiefs at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa, Florida.

Earlier this season, the Bucs lost 27-24 to the Chiefs on Nov. 29. in Tampa. Brady and the Bucs were unable to overcome a 17-0 first-quarter deficit.

Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes threw for 462 yards, with wide receiver Tyreek Hill catching 13 passes for 269 yards and three touchdowns. Hill had 203 receiving yards in the first quarter, the Post reported.

Brady threw for 345 yards and tossed a pair of fourth-quarter touchdown passes to Mike Evans to trim the deficit to three points, but the Bucs could not get the ball back after scoring with 4:10 to play.

“We battled back but we left ourselves a big deficit,” Brady told reporters after the game. “When you play a good offense, we’ve got to do our job offensively and keep them off the field.”

Through the years, Brady has felt the satisfaction of revenge and the bitter pill of defeat in return games in the Super Bowl.

On Nov. 18, 2001, Brady and the Patriots lost 24-17 to the St. Louis Rams, falling to 5-5. The Rams were led by Kurt Warner, who threw for 401 yards and three touchdowns as St. Louis improved to 8-1. It was the Patriots’ last loss of the season. New England reeled off six straight wins to finish the regular season at 11-5, beat Oakland and Pittsburgh in the playoffs, and then edged the Rams 20-17 in Super Bowl XXXVI.

The loss in 2012 to the Giants was tough for Brady, but the loss to New York after the 2007 season was worse.

The Patriots joined the 1972 Miami Dolphins as the only NFL team to finish a regular season with an unbeaten, untied record and defeated the Giants 38-35 in the 2007 regular-season finale. New England defeated Jacksonville and San Diego in the playoffs and was leading the Giants 14-10 late in Super Bowl XLII.

But a spectacular leaping catch by David Tyree -- called the “helmet catch” -- with 59 seconds to play led to a 13-yard touchdown pass from Eli Manning to Plaxico Burress with 35 seconds to go. That gave New York a 17-14 victory, a win that has been called the biggest upset in Super Bowl history. That victory even overshadowed Joe Namath’s “guarantee” in Super Bowl III, when the New York Jets stunned the Baltimore Colts 16-7.

Here are the other games that featured teams in the Super Bowl that played during the regular season:

1977-78 season: The Dallas Cowboys beat the Denver Broncos 14-6 and prevailed 27-10 in Super Bowl XII.

1980-81 season: The Oakland Raiders lost 10-7 to the Philadelphia Eagles during the regular season but won Super Bowl XV, 27-10.

1981-82 season: The San Francisco 49ers swept two games from the Cincinnati Bengals, winning 21-3 in the regular season and 26-21 in Super Bowl XVI.

1983-84 season: The Los Angeles Raiders lost 37-35 to Washington during the regular season but rolled to a 38-9 victory in Super Bowl XVIII, the first title game played in Tampa.

1985-86 season: The Chicago Bears beat the Patriots 20-7 during the regular season and emphatically prevailed in Super Bowl XX, winning 46-10.

1986-87 season: The New York Giants topped the Broncos twice, winning 19-16 during the regular season game and 39-20 in Super Bowl XXI.

1990-91 season: Giants lost to the Buffalo Bills 17-13 during the regular season but won Super Bowl XXV in Tampa, hanging on for a 20-19 victory.

1993-94 season: The Cowboys lost to the Bills 13-10 in the regular season but got revenge in Super Bowl XXVIII with a 30-13 victory.

1994-95 season: The 49ers had no problem with the San Diego Chargers, winning 38-15 during the regular season and 49-26 in Super Bowl XXIX.

1999-2000: The St. Louis Rams lost 24-21 to the Tennessee Titans in the regular season but won Super Bowl XXXIV 23-16 in the rematch.

If it’s any solace for Brady, McCartney was the featured singer at halftime for Super Bowl XXXIX. That was the last time a team won back-to-back Super Bowl titles. The winners? Brady and the Patriots. The losers? The Eagles and their coach, Andy Reid, who is now the coach for the Chiefs.

Perhaps Reid is humming “Not a Second Time” for Super Bowl LV.

Cox Media Group