NE Patriots

On November 16, 1959, Boston business executive Billy Sullivan was awarded the eighth and final franchise of the developing American Football League (AFL). The following winter, locals were allowed to submit ideas for the Boston football team's official name. The most popular choice – and the one that Sullivan selected – was the "Boston Patriots", with "Patriots" referring to the colonists of the Thirteen Colonies who rebelled against British control during the American Revolution and in July 1776 declared the United States of America an independent nation, which heavily involved the then-colony of Massachusetts. Immediately thereafter, artist Phil Bissell of The Boston Globe developed the "Pat Patriot" logo.

The Patriots never had a regular home stadium in the AFL. Boston University Field, Harvard Stadium, Fenway Park (shared with baseball's Boston Red Sox), and Boston College's Alumni Stadium all served as home fields during their time in the American Football League. The 1963 season saw the franchise's first playoff win over Buffalo to clinch the division. They subsequently lost the AFL championship game to the San Diego Chargers 51–10. They did not appear again in an AFL or NFL post-season game for another 13 years.

When the NFL and AFL merged in 1970, the Patriots were placed in the American Football Conference (AFC) East division, where they still play. The following year, the Patriots moved to a new stadium in Foxborough, Massachusetts, which would serve as their home for the next 30 years. As a result of the move, they announced they would change their name from the Boston Patriots to the Bay State Patriots, after the state of Massachusetts. The name was rejected by the NFL and on March 22, 1971, the team officially announced they would change its geographic name to New England.

During the 1970s, the Patriots had some success under head coach Chuck Fairbanks, earning a berth to the playoffs in 1976 – as a wild card team – and in 1978 – as AFC East champions. They lost in the first round both times. Under his successor, Ron Erhardt, the team finished one game out of the playoffs his first two years. The next coach, Ron Meyer, led the team to the playoffs in the strike-shortened 1982 season, and despite not having a losing record during his career, he was fired in 1984 due to poor relationships with players and management. Hall-of-Fame player Raymond Berry was hired as his replacement, and in 1985, he brought the team to its first AFC Championship and a berth in Super Bowl XX, which they lost to the Chicago Bears 46–10. Following their Super Bowl loss, they returned to the playoffs in 1986, but lost in the first round. Berry left the team following a disappointing 1989 season, and his replacement Rod Rust only lasted one season, 1990, during which the Patriots went 1–15. During the late 1980s and early 1990s they changed ownership several times, being purchased from the Sullivan family first by Victor Kiam in 1988, who sold the team to James Orthwein in 1992. Though Orthwein's period as owner was short and controversial, he did oversee major changes to the team, first with the hiring of former New York Giants coach Bill Parcells in 1993. Orthwein and his marketing team then defied Patriots fans' overwhelming preference and commissioned the NFL to develop a new visual identity and logo, and changed their primary colors from the traditional red, white and blue to blue and silver for the team uniforms. Orthwein intended to move the team to his native St. Louis (where it would have been renamed as the St. Louis Stallions), but instead sold the team in 1994 for $175 million to Boston paper magnate Robert Kraft, who had bought the Patriots' then-home, Foxboro Stadium, out of bankruptcy in 1988.

Continuing on as head coach under Kraft's ownership, Parcells would bring the Patriots to two playoff appearances, including Super Bowl XXXI (following the 1996 season), which they lost to the Green Bay Packers by a score of 35–21. Pete Carroll, Parcells's successor, would also take the team to the playoffs twice in 1997 and 1998 before being dismissed as head coach after the 1999 season.

In 2000, the Patriots hired head coach Bill Belichick, who had served as defensive coordinator under Parcells including during Super Bowl XXXI. Their new home field, Gillette Stadium, opened in 2002 to replace the aging Foxboro Stadium. Long-time starting quarterback Drew Bledsoe, who was the franchise's star throughout the 1990s, went down with a sheared blood vessel in his chest in a week two match-up in 2001 against the rival New York Jets. Backup quarterback Tom Brady, drafted by the Patriots in sixth round of the 2000 NFL draft, became the starting quarterback. Brady's successful play led to Bledsoe never getting his job back as a starter, and would serve as the franchise's starting quarterback for the next 18 years. Under Belichick and Brady, the Patriots became one of the most consistently dominant teams in the NFL, with many describing the team as a "dynasty". Within the first few seasons of the 21st century, the team won three Super Bowls in four seasons (2001, 2003, and 2004), over the St. Louis Rams, Carolina Panthers, and Philadelphia Eagles, respectively. In the 2005 season, the Patriots went 10–6 and won the division. The Patriots defeated the Jacksonville Jaguars in the Wild Card Round before falling to the Denver Broncos in the Divisional Round. In the 2006 season, the Patriots went 12–4 and won the division. After defeating the Jets and the Chargers, the Patriots lost in the AFC Championship to the Colts. The Patriots finished the 2007 regular season with a perfect 16–0 record, becoming only the fourth team in league history to go undefeated in the regular season, and the only one since the league expanded its regular season schedule to 16 games. After advancing to Super Bowl XLII, the team's fourth Super Bowl in seven years, the Patriots were upset by the Giants to end their bid for a 19–0 season. With the loss, the Patriots ended the year at 18–1, becoming only one of three teams to go 18–1 along with the 1984 San Francisco 49ers and the 1985 Chicago Bears. However, both the Bears and 49ers lost their only game during the regular season, and both would win their respective Super Bowl. In the first game of the 2008 season, Brady suffered a torn ACL against the Chiefs. Matt Cassell stepped in for the rest of the season and the team finished 11–5 but missed the postseason. In the 2009 season, Brady returned from his injury and led the team to a 10–6 record and a division title. The team's season in the Wild Card Round with a 33–14 loss to the Baltimore Ravens. The Patriots went 14–2 and won the division in the 2010 season but were one-and-done in the Divisional Round of the playoffs against the New York Jets in a 28–21 loss.

The Patriots returned to the Super Bowl in 2011 but lost again to the Giants, 21–17. In the 2012 season, the Patriots won the AFC East with a 12–4 record. The team defeated the Houston Texans in the Divisional Round before falling to the Baltimore Ravens in the AFC Championship. In the 2013 season, the Patriots went 12–4 and won the division. The Patriots defeated the Indianapolis Colts 43–22 in the Divisional Round before falling to the Denver Bronos 26–16 in the AFC Championship. In 2014, the Patriots won the division with a 12–4 record. The Patrios defeated the Baltimore Ravens in the Divisional Round and the Indianapolis Colts in the AFC Championship. The Patriots reached a record-tying eighth Super Bowl, where they defeated the defending champion Seattle Seahawks by a score of 28–24 to win Super Bowl XLIX for their fourth title. After Seattle had driven the ball to New England's 1-yard line with under a minute to go, New England rookie cornerback Malcolm Butler made a critical interception on Seattle's final offensive play that helped to seal the victory. In the 2015 season, the Patriots won the division with a 12–4 record. The team defeated the Kansas City Chiefs in the Divisional Round before falling to the Denver Broncos in the AFC Championship. New England became the first team to reach nine Super Bowls in the 2016–17 playoffs and faced the Atlanta Falcons in Super Bowl LI. Losing 28–3 midway through the third quarter, the Patriots scored 25 unanswered points to tie the game in the final seconds of regulation. In the first overtime in Super Bowl history, the Patriots won the coin toss and scored a touchdown to claim their fifth Super Bowl victory. The Patriots extended their record to ten Super Bowl appearances in the 2017–18 playoffs but lost to the Philadelphia Eagles in Super Bowl LII. The Patriots returned to the championship game for a third consecutive season in Super Bowl LIII, where they defeated the Los Angeles Rams 13–3 to win their sixth Super Bowl, tying them with the Pittsburgh Steelers for most Super Bowl victories in NFL history.

Following a disappointing 2019 season, in which the team lost in the first round of the playoffs to the Tennessee Titans, and in which the long-time Brady–Belichick partnership was strained due to Brady wanting to have more input in organizational decisions, Brady departed the Patriots after 20 seasons for free agency, signing with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. To replace him, the Patriots signed veteran quarterback Cam Newton. In 2020, the team missed the playoffs with their first losing record, 7–9, in two decades. The team drafted Mac Jones in the first round of the 2021 NFL draft, and released Newton after naming Jones the starting quarterback prior to the team's first game of the 2021 season. Jones led the team to their first playoff berth without Brady since 1998, but they would lose 47–17 to the division rival Buffalo Bills in the Wild Card round. The Patriots finished with a 8–9 record and missed the postseason in the 2022 season.

After a gloomy 4–13 record in the 2023 season, the Patriots mutually parted ways with Bill Belichick after 24 years on January 11, 2024, notably due to a series of poor decisions in his final years as general manager regarding offensive personnel, which culminated in a sharp decline of offensive production following the 2021 season. One day later, the Patriots promoted the pair of Jerod Mayo, then-current linebackers coach and former player, and Eliot Wolf, director of scouting and son of Pro Football Hall of Fame general manager Ron Wolf, as head coach and de facto general manager to each succeed Belichick's duties. Mac Jones, after three seasons as the incumbent starter, was traded in the 2024 offseason due to his insufficient play. The Mayo-Wolf regime kickstarted a new era during the 2024 NFL draft, selecting Drake Maye third overall, the highest draft pick held by the Patriots in 31 years up to that point.