when was the last year the patriots did not make the playoffs
2008 New England Patriots season The 2008 New England Patriots season was the 39th season for the team in the National Football League and 49th season overall. The Patriots were defending AFC champions. Despite finishing the regular season with an 11–5 record, the Patriots did not qualify for the playoffs—becoming the first 11-win team since the expansion to a 12-team playoff in 1990 to not make the playoffs, as well as only the second team (after the 1985 Denver Broncos) since the NFL expanded to a 16-game regular season in 1978. This came just one year after finishing with the only 16–0 regular-season record in NFL history.
Super Bowl XXXIX The Patriots' Super Bowl win was the third championship for Boston-area sports teams in 12 months, following the Patriots winning Super Bowl XXXVIII the year before and the Red Sox winning the World Series–first in 86 years–three months earlier. This marked the first time since 1989–1990 in the San Francisco Bay Area that the same market has had 2 Super Bowl and World Series winners in 12 months.[13] The Patriots would later appear in Super Bowl XLII and Super Bowl XLVI, losing both to Eli Manning's New York Giants, before winning Super Bowl XLIX against the Seattle Seahawks, 28–24, ten years later and Super Bowl LI against the Atlanta Falcons, 34-28, two years later. The latest Super Bowl win for the Patriots makes it ten titles among the four Boston teams (5 by the Patriots, 3 by the Red Sox, and one each by the Celtics and Bruins) since 2002.