Colin Cowherd has a rather lengthy track record of sharing inaccuracies during his nearly decade-long stint as host of The Herd on FS1*. O*n Thursday’s edition of The Herd, Cowherd added to that lengthy track record when misremembering the legacy of the New England Patriots organization.
Cowherd discussed the recent changes to the NBA CBA last offseason on Thursday’s show, which have implemented heavy penalties for teams exceeding the luxury tax and entering the newly established first and second aprons. This has forced teams to move on from players with big contracts, even if they remain productive players on the team.
The Boston Celtics organization recently demonstrated the significant impact of the new CBA rules on their thought process, trading former All-Stars Jrue Holiday and Kristaps Porzingis, moves that were seemingly made in part to shed salary and avoid the second apron.
The new rules were seemingly implemented to create more parity in the NBA and allow small-market teams a better chance to compete against big-market teams. According to Cowherd, the new changes will make the NBA a lot more like the NFL, where it is tough to repeat as champions.
“I think the NBA is gonna look more like the NFL,” said Cowherd. “Where it is virtually impossible… Nobody wins three in a row. It’s almost impossible. Not even Brady and Belichick won back-to-back. The NFL, you can’t win back-to-backs. You have to move off people.”
Neither one of these boneheads is aware that the Patriots won back-to-back Super Bowls. pic.twitter.com/Sw2L9fKNAT
— Funhouse (@BackAftaThis) June 26, 2025
The one massive error in Cowherd’s point, which is common knowledge to most NFL fans, is that the Patriots did indeed repeat as champions in 2003 and 2004, the second and third Super Bowls in the Brady-Belichick dynasty.
Additionally, Cowherd also seems to be forgetting that the Kansas City Chiefs just won back-to-back Super Bowls in 2023 and 2024. So, while the task is obviously no easy feat, it is far from the “impossible” one he is making it out to be.
We have only had nine NFL teams repeat as Super Bowl champions the following year, most of which came before the 21st century. So there’s a valid concern in Cowherd’s point. But his example wasn’t well thought out, to say the least…