Pats’ history has had its ups & downs
Around since 1960 when they joined the then American Football League, the New England Patriots are on the doorstep of greatness with one win over the New York Giants standing in their way of being called the greatest football team in league history.
Starting out as the Boston Patriots in the AFL, the Patriots suffered through many seasons of mediocrity standing fully in the shadow of the Boston Celtics and Boston Bruins and sometimes even the Boston Red Sox during their first four decades. While they did advance to the AFL Championship game in 1963 before being dispatched by the San Diego Chargers in a 51-10 whopping, the Pats would be banished from the postseason for the next 13 seasons, most of which came after the AFL merger into the National Football League.
The Patriots as we know them moved to Foxborough from Boston in 1971, carrying with them their farmiliar logo, that of Pat Patriot, the Revolutionary War minuteman snapping the football which was featured on their helmets until 1993 when the current logo, known in some circles as the Flying Elvis, replaced Pat Patriot. It’s been under that logo the Patriots have won all three of their championships in Super Bowls 36, 38 and 39 (forgive me for not using the traditional Roman numerals).
Their first trip to the Super Bowl, back in Super Bowl XX (there ya go) was a less than stellar trip as they were beaten like a rented mule by the Chicago Bears who did the Super Bowl Shuffle on Pat Patriot winning 46-10. This was a year the Patriots emerged from obscurity, actually, as most of the world was looking forward to a re-match of the 38-24 Miami Dolphin win over the Bears, which marked the only blemish on the Bear record which coincidentally helped preserve the 1972 Dolphins as the only undefeated team (at least for another week).
As I recall, the Dolphins were a heavy favorite behind the arm of Dan Marino, who was still in his prime. They had beaten the Patriots something like 19 times in a row in Miami and the AFC Championship game was supposed to be only a warm up for the Bears, that is, until the Pats spoiled the party by beating the Dolphins 31-14.
The next Patriot visit to the Super Bowl did not come for 11 more years when they came up against a team of destiny losing to Brett Favre and the Green Bay Packers 35-21.
Five years later, behind the arm of newly promoted quarterback Tom Brady, who replaced an injured Drew Bledsoe mid-season, the Pats shocked the world by defeating a heavily favored St. Louis Ram team 20-17. Ironically, the Pats had been bought by James Orthwein back in the early 1990s with plans the millionaire would move the franchise to St. Louis, where the Rams actually moved to from Los Angeles. Robert Kraft saved the franchise by purchasing them in 1994 and keeping them in Foxborough.
It’s this first of three championships that fans should play close attention to this next week as the Rams-Patriots Super Bowl had a similar feel as does the Patriots-Giants Super Bowl, except in this case, the Giants have already shown they can hang with the Pats. Back in SB36, the Rams frankly had a bad game and the Pats played perfect to claim the first of what would be three Super Bowl wins, all by three points.
Who will I pick? Let’s see how Tom’s ankle feels this week first.