In most North American sports, the phrase games behind or games back is a common way to reflect the gap between a leading team and another team in a sports league, conference, or division.
The 1960 Boston Patriots season was the franchise's first season in the new American Football League. Led by head coach Lou Saban, the Patriots finished with five wins and nine losses, last in the AFL's Eastern Division. The team played their home games at Boston University Field, later named "Nickerson Field."
The 1961 Boston Patriots season was the franchise's second season in the American Football League They finished with nine wins, four losses, and one tie, in second place in the AFL's Eastern Division.
The 1962 Boston Patriots season was the franchise's third season in the American Football League. The Patriots ended with a record of nine wins and four losses and one tie, second in the AFL's Eastern Division.
The 1963 Boston Patriots season was the franchise's 4th season in the American Football League.
The 1964 Boston Patriots season was the franchise's 5th season in the American Football League. The Patriots ended the season with a record of ten wins, three losses, and one tie, and finished second in the AFL's Eastern Division.
The 1965 Boston Patriots season was the franchise's 6th season in the American Football League. The Patriots ended the season with a record of four wins and eight losses and two ties, and finished third in the AFL's Eastern Division.
The 1966 Boston Patriots season was the franchise's 7th season in the American Football League. The Patriots ended the season with a record of eight wins and four losses and two ties, and finished second in the AFL's Eastern Division. This would be the last winning season the Patriots posted as an AFL team; they would not have another such season until 1976, by which time the team was in the NFL as the New England Patriots.
The 1967 Boston Patriots season was the franchise's 8th season in the American Football League. The Patriots ended the season with a record of three wins, ten losses, and one tie, and finished last in the AFL's Eastern Division.
The 1968 Boston Patriots season was the franchise's 9th season in the American Football League. The Patriots ended the season with a record of four wins and ten losses, and finished fourth in the AFL's Eastern Division. The Patriots played their final season of home games at Fenway Park before moving to Alumni Stadium on the campus of Boston College for the following season.
The 1970 Boston Patriots season was the franchise's first season in the National Football League and eleventh overall. They ended the season with a record of two wins and twelve losses, fifth (last) in the AFC East Division.
The 1971 New England Patriots season was the franchise's 2nd season in the National Football League and 12th overall. The 1971 season was the first that the team played as the New England Patriots, changing their name from the Boston Patriots, briefly to the Bay State Patriots before changing it again to the New England Patriots, in an effort to regionalize the franchise's equal distance from Boston and Providence.
The 1975 New England Patriots season was the franchise's 6th season in the National Football League and 16th overall. The Patriots ended the season with a record of three wins and eleven losses, and finished tied for fourth in the AFC East Division. The Patriots had put up their best season in nearly a decade in 1974, finishing the year with a 7–7 record and earning their first season with at least a .500 winning percentage since 1966. However, New England continued its forgetful period of the '70s, as they finished 3–11 and missed the playoffs for the 12th straight season. New England started terribly, losing its first 4 games, each by 7 or more points. After winning 3 of their next 4 games, the Patriots would lose their final 6 games to conclude the season. Although they tied the New York Jets for last place in the AFC East, they lost the tiebreaker by virtue of New York winning both matchups during the season.
The 1981 New England Patriots season was the franchise's 12th season in the National Football League and 22nd overall.
The 1988 New England Patriots season was the franchise's 19th season in the National Football League, the 29th overall and the 5th under head coach Raymond Berry. With a record of nine wins and seven losses, they finished tied for second in the AFC East Division. It would take until 1994 for the Patriots to record another winning season. The Patriots improved on its 8–7 record from 1987, winning one more game due to one game being cancelled the previous season. Despite the winning record, the Patriots did not reach the postseason. They finished tied for 2nd in the AFC East with the arch rival Colts, but were regulated to 3rd place because the Colts had a better record against common opponents than the Patriots did.
The 1978 Baltimore Colts season was the 26th season for the team in the National Football League (NFL). Under fourth-year head coach Ted Marchibroda, the Colts finished with 5 wins and 11 losses, tied for fourth in the AFC East division with the Buffalo Bills. Baltimore lost the tiebreaker to Buffalo based on head-to-head series (0–2). This was the first time under Marchibroda that Baltimore did not make the postseason.
The 1969 Baltimore Colts season was the 17th season for the team in the National Football League. The Colts finished the National Football League's 1969 season with a record of 8 wins, 5 losses and 1 tie. Led by seventh-year head coach Don Shula, Baltimore finished second in the Western Conference's Coastal division, well behind the Los Angeles Rams (11–3).
The 1963 Buffalo Bills season was the team’s fourth season in the American Football League. Winless after their first four games, Buffalo won seven of the final ten games, including the final two over the New York Jets, to finish with their second-consecutive 7–6–1 record, tied with the Boston Patriots atop the Eastern division. In this era, this required a tiebreaker playoff, the AFL's first. The Patriots and Bills had split their season series, each team winning at home, and the Bills were slight favorites as playoff hosts.
The 1963 Houston Oilers season was the fourth season for the Houston Oilers as a professional American football franchise. Houston had won the first two league championships and were runners-up in 1962, which went to a second overtime. In 1963, the Oilers lost their final four games to finish at 6–8, 1½ games behind the Boston Patriots and Buffalo Bills in the Eastern division. They failed to win the division for the first time in franchise history.
