The Patriots were founded in 1959 as the Boston Patriots and are one of the original members of the American Football League (AFL). They made their first appearance in the new league in 1960. They changed their name to the New England Patriots in 1971, participating in the NFL since 1970 after the AFL-NFL merger. During the 1970s, they did not achieve much notable success. However, in 1985, they reached their first Super Bowl, but lost to the Chicago Bears. In the early 1990s, the team underwent a rebranding with changes to its logo and colors by then-owner James Orthwein. He intended to relocate the team to St. Louis, but eventually sold the team to Robert Kraft, and that marked the beginning of the rise of the Patriots. They achieved many successes with continuous playoff appearances and a Super Bowl loss in 1996 to the Green Bay Packers. The turning point came in the 2000-2001 season with the hiring of the iconic Bill Belichick as head coach and the drafting of the most successful American Football athlete and quarterback, Tom Brady. During their joint tenure with the Patriots, they participated in nine Super Bowls, winning six of them. The New England Patriots hold the record for the most Super Bowl appearances (11), tied with the Pittsburgh Steelers for the most championships (6), and tied with the Denver Broncos for the most Super Bowl losses (5). In recent years, after the departure of Tom Brady the Patriots are stuck in mediocrity. In 2024 the tenure of Bill Belichick with the Patriots has ended.