After losing Super Bowl XX, the New England Patriots were headed towards the most tumultuous ten-year span in franchise history; both on and off the field. On the field, the team struggled to repeat the success of its 1985 season: The Patriots had five consecutive losing seasons from 1989 to 1993. The low point was reached in 1990, when New England went 1-15 and had the worst in-season point differential of the 1990s at -265.
While the on-field-product was at best mediocre and at worst a disaster, the off-field environment was by no means better.