Looked it up the other day and noticed no team has made it back to the Super Bowl a 3rd time after repeating, and was curious what other teams have done and why.
Didn't dig too much into the why.... in a few cases, it was obvious from a coach or QB retiring or injured players. And sometimes football is hard.... several of these teams (not the Broncos, lol) were still very good.
Packers, '68, 6-7-1, didn't make playoffs, Vince Lombardi retired
Dolphins, '74, 11-3, lost divisional round @Raiders 28-26,
'Sea of Hands'
Steelers, '76, 10-4, lost AFCCG @Raiders 24-7, Franco Harris and Rocky Bleier both injured
Steelers, '80, 9-7, didn't make playoffs, aging team (many players retired after this season)
49ers, '90, 14-2, lost NFCCG vs Giants 15-13
Cowboys, '94, 12-4, lost NFCCG @49ers 38-28
Broncos, '99, 6-10, ****ing sucked, horseface retired
Patriots, '05, 10-6, lost divisional @Broncos 27-13