The New England Patriots are a professional American football team based in Foxborough, Massachusetts. They are currently part of the Eastern Division of the American Football Conference (AFC) in the National Football League (NFL).

On November 16, 1959, Boston 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 "Boston Patriots". Immediately thereafter, Phil Bisell developed the "Pat Patriot" logo.

Training camp started on July 4, 1960, two months prior to the franchise's first game. On September 9, 1960, the Boston Patriots played the Denver Broncos in the first-ever AFC regular season game. The Patriots were defeated by a score of 13–10. The Patriots missed the AFL playoffs for their first three seasons. However, in 1963 the Patriots reached the AFL Championship for the first time; they lost to the San Diego Chargers 51–10. The Patriots failed to make it to the AFL playoffs for the rest of the decade.

In 1970, the Patriots' franchise joined the NFL pursuant to the merger of the AFL and NFL. The Patriots were merged into the American Football Conference (AFC), where they remain to the present day. However, the Patriots' first season as part of the NFL resulted in a record of 2–12, sole possession of the newly merged league's worst record. The team lacked stability and was forced to play between four different sites. Finally the Patriots moved into a new stadium in Foxborough (also known as Foxboro). The stadium, to be known as Schaefer Stadium, became Sullivan Stadium in 1983 and, ultimately, Foxboro Stadium in 1990. In March 1971, the team was renamed the "Bay State Patriots" and later that year the "New England Patriots" to reflect the relocation.

Despite the changes in personnel, the New England Patriots' series of losing seasons continued into the early 1970s. Chuck Fairbanks was hired as head coach and general manager in 1973 after leading a top-ten program at the University of Oklahoma. The Patriots finished 7–7 in 1974 and 3–11 in 1975, which resulted in offensive changes.

The New England Patriots' worst season in franchise history — a 1-15 record — came under Rust in 1990. During the season, the New England Patriots were thrown into the middle of a sexual harassment scandal when Boston Herald reporter Lisa Olson was sexually and verbally assaulted by several New England Patriots players in the team's locker room — a bad situation made worse by Kiam first deriding the reporter as "a classic [expletive]" and by making lewd jokes at public events about the whole affair instead of allowing it to die quietly.

The owner of Foxboro Stadium, Robert Kraft rejected a $75,000,000 buyout bid to void the remaining years of the lease, prompting Orthwein to put the franchise up for sale. Kraft then proceeded to outbid the field of competition and obtained full ownership of the New England Patriots in 1994. Kraft implemented changes in organization and leadership, which culminated in a ten-season stadium sell-out streak from 1996 to the present.

Bill Belichick, hand-picked to be Parcells' successor with the Jets, quit after one day as Jets head coach to join New England. In 2000, Belichick's first season resulted in a 5–11 record. In 2001, quarterback Drew Bledsoe was injured in the second game of the season and was replaced by Tom Brady, a sixth-round draft pick, who then led the team into the playoffs with an 11–5 record. The New England Patriots defeated the Oakland Raiders, in the so-called "The Tuck" game played in a driving snowstorm in Foxborough (it was also notable for being the final game in Foxboro Stadium), followed by defeating the Pittsburgh Steelers in the AFC Championship Game. That set up their third trip to New Orleans and Super Bowl XXXVI, where, amidst a theme of patriotism spawned by the September 11 terror attacks, they defeated the St. Louis Rams on a last-second field goal by Adam Vinatieri. In New England's first Super Bowl victory, Brady drove his team 48 yards in 1:21 with no timeouts, and was selected Super Bowl MVP. An estimated 1.5 million people turned out in Boston for the New England Patriots' first victory parade. In the 2002 offseason, Bledsoe was traded, in an unusual move, within the division, to the Buffalo Bills.

The New England Patriots missed the 2002 playoffs after finishing with a record of 9–7 and missing out on the division title via a tiebreaker to the New York Jets. In 2003, the New England Patriots started 2–2 but finished with a 14–2 record and fourteen straight wins on their way to Super Bowl XXXVIII against the Carolina Panthers. The New England Patriots won by a score of 32–29; the final three points came from another Adam Vinatieri field goal. Brady was named Super Bowl MVP for the second time in his career.

In 2004, the New England Patriots broke the NFL all-time regular season consecutive winning streak record of 18 straight wins, with a victory against the Miami Dolphins. Later in the season, the New England Patriots lost to the Pittsburgh Steelers, which halted their winning streak at 21 games. However, the NFL only counts regular-season wins in determining the consecutive wins record, so the New England Patriots' streak officially stands at 18 games.

After finishing the 2004 season with a 14-2 record, the New England Patriots defeated the Indianapolis Colts and Pittsburgh Steelers en route to Super Bowl XXXIX. The New England Patriots went on to defeat the Philadelphia Eagles by a score of 24–21. The victory made the New England Patriots the first team in six years to repeat as NFL Super Bowl champions, and the second team ever to win three Super Bowls in four years. After the 2004 season, Belichick's top two coordinators, Charlie Weis and Romeo Crennel, left the team to pursue head coaching positions.

The team's on field performance and attendance has drastically improved since Robert Kraft bought the team in 1994. Before Kraft, the New England Patriots won the AFC East three times, made the playoffs six times (including their AFL Championship berth in 1963) in 34 years and went to the Super Bowl once. Since Kraft, the New England Patriots have won the AFC East eight times, made the playoffs nine times and have been to the Super Bowl on four occasions, winning three. From the 1996 season onward, every New England Patriots home game has sold out, both at Foxboro and Gillette stadiums, including preseason games.

The original Patriot logo was developed in 1960 by artist Phil Bissell. The logo featured a New England-originated Revolutionary War minuteman snapping a football while not dressed in football gear. Initial New England Patriots owner William Sullivan coined the logo's nickname: "Pat Patriot". Meanwhile, the team's original uniforms were red with white and blue stripes on their sleeves, and white pants and helmets. Initially, the helmets featured pilgrim hats; however, this design was replaced with the Pat Patriot logo in 1961. In 1993 changes to the Patriots' uniforms and logo were rolled out by brief Patriots owner James B. Orthwein. The old "Pat Patriot" logo was retired and replaced with a stylized Patriot head in silhouette wearing a red-white-and-blue tricorn hat, designed in tandem with NFL Properties that fans and sports officials would eventually nickname the "Flying Elvis". The team's uniforms were changed from red to "Patriot" (dark) blue, and both the helmets and pants from white to silver. In 2000 the team developed additional changes to their logo and uniform. Although the "Flying Elvis" logo remained, a darker blue color was introduced.

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