List of New England Patriots seasons
The New England Patriots are a professional American football team based in the Greater Boston town of Foxborough, Massachusetts. They play in the National Football League as a member club of the league's American Football Conference East division. Originally called the Boston Patriots, the team was founded as one of eight charter members of the American Football League in 1960 under the ownership of Billy Sullivan. The team became part of the NFL when the two leagues merged in 1970. The following year, they moved from Boston to nearby Foxborough, and changed their name to the New England Patriots.
The modern NFL championship game, the Super Bowl, was founded in the 1966 season; the first four were contested between the champions of the AFL and the NFL. After the merger, the Super Bowl became the united league's championship. The Patriots made the 1963 AFL Championship Game, but struggled severely in the early years of the united league, not making the postseason until 1976. After a few good seasons including a Super Bowl appearance against a champion Bears outfit, the Patriots reached a nadir between 1989 and 1993 when they won only 19 of 80 games.
Since Bill Belichick was hired as the team's head coach in 2000, the Patriots have played their way to first or second in the AFC East every year except Belichick's first season, with both second-place finishes caused by tiebreakers. Over that time, they have won six Super Bowls, nine AFC Championship Games, and sixteen AFC East titles, while amassing a regular season record of 237–82. The team's quarterback over that same period, Tom Brady, has been awarded the NFL Most Valuable Player three times, and the Super Bowl Most Valuable Player four times; he is one of only five players named Super Bowl MVP more than once, and the only one named 4 times.
The Patriots have played their way to six Super Bowl championships. They also played in and lost Super Bowls XX, XXXI, XLII, XLVI, and LII. During the 2007 regular season, the Patriots became the only NFL team in history to win 16 games, and the first since the 1972 Miami Dolphins to complete the regular campaign undefeated. Belichick's Patriots are one of only two teams to win three Super Bowls in four years.
Overall, the Patriots have made 27 playoff appearances, one of which was before the merger. Since the merger, they have played fifteen AFC Championship Games, winning eleven of them to advance to the Super Bowl. In the Patriots' 58-year history, they have an overall regular season record of 500 wins, 391 losses, and 9 ties, plus an overall postseason record of 37 wins and 20 losses. In the 2018 NFL season, the Patriots reached their 11th Super Bowl, breaking their own record for most Super Bowl appearances by any organization of all time.
Seasons
| AFL champions | Super Bowl champions | Conference champions | Division champions | Wild Card berth | One-Game Playoff Berth |
has three times been named the NFL's Most Valuable Player, and four times a Super Bowl Most Valuable Player
| ASG MVP | American Football League All-Star Game Most Valuable Player Award |
| CBPOY | National Football League Comeback Player of the Year Award |
| DROY | National Football League Defensive Rookie of the Year Award |
| OROY | National Football League Offensive Rookie of the Year Award |
| COY | National Football League Coach of the Year Award |
| OPOY | National Football League Offensive Player of the Year Award |
| DPOY | National Football League Defensive Player of the Year Award |
| MVP | National Football League Most Valuable Player Award |
| SB MVP | Super Bowl Most Valuable Player Award |