<P> The 2011 New England Patriots season was the 42nd season for the team in the National Football League and 52nd season overall . The Patriots finished the regular season at 13--3, and represented the AFC in Super Bowl XLVI . It was the seventh Super Bowl trip in franchise history, and the fifth for head coach Bill Belichick and quarterback Tom Brady . </P> <P> The Patriots dedicated their 2011 season to the memory of Myra Kraft, the wife of owner Robert Kraft, who died on July 20, 2011 after a long fight against cancer . At both home and away games, the Patriots wore patches bearing Kraft's initials, MHK, on their uniforms . The Patriots elected to wear their Super Bowl patches on the right side of their uniforms, so that they could keep the MHK patch on the left as it had been all season . The Patriots were the only 2011 division winner that won their division the previous season . </P> <P> The Patriots lost in the Super Bowl to the New York Giants by a score of 21--17 . The Patriots, as was the case in their previous appearance against these same Giants in Super Bowl XLII, had a chance to join the San Francisco 49ers, the Dallas Cowboys, the Pittsburgh Steelers, and the Green Bay Packers as the only teams to win at least four Super Bowls (the Packers, who had entered the 2011 season as the defending champions, had not yet won a fourth Super Bowl when the Patriots had last appeared). Instead, the Patriots tied a then - NFL record for most losses in a Super Bowl that had been set by the Minnesota Vikings and tied by the Denver Broncos and Buffalo Bills, each of whom had lost four . </P> <P> With the loss, along with losses in 1985, 1996, and 2007, the Patriots tied with the Denver Broncos, Buffalo Bills and Minnesota Vikings for most Super Bowl losses at four (although the Broncos would lose their fifth against the Seattle Seahawks two years later). </P>

Who did the patriots lose to in 2011