FOXBOROUGH — The first 12 times Bill Belichick took the Patriots to the playoffs, the team won its regular-season finale on nine occasions, and the three losses can easily be explained away. In nine of those 12 playoff seasons, the Patriots won at least the last two regular-season games. Many won more.

Never, until now, have the Patriots entered the postseason having lost their last two games to close out the regular season. A team that has created a pattern of building playoff momentum with late-season success hasn’t experienced much of it since rolling to a 10-0 start.

Whether the late-season slide factors into their playoff performance remains to be seen, but it has put the Patriots, a team that’s made plenty of history, in new territory.

Not that Belichick puts much stock in what took place with any of his former teams. Belichick has been fairly adamant this week that the past is the past, and none of it will have any bearing on what happens Jan. 16, or Jan. 24, or even Feb. 7, should the Patriots win two playoff games and advance to Super Bowl 50.

“I don’t really care about any other season or any other game — just the one that’s coming up,’’ Belichick said Tuesday. “That’s the only one we’re focused on. I don’t really care about what happened any other [year]. That’s pretty irrelevant to me.’’

A day earlier, he said pretty much the same thing.

“I know you and others like to make a lot of comparisons about one thing to another thing,’’ he said. “Honestly, I don’t really care about that. We try to look ahead, see what we have in the future, and do the best we can with that rather than sit back and try to make comparisons between other years, other teams, other games, some other situation — none of which really matter.

“It isn’t really important how one year relates to another year or some other game or some other season from way back when. What difference does it make?’’

None, perhaps. But Belichick has been the coach for the past 12 Patriots playoff appearances (this season makes 13), and Tom Brady has been the quarterback for that entire run. How did the Patriots fare down the stretch during those 12 playoff seasons, and can it add any context to their 2-4 finish to this regular season? Let’s give it a shot.

2001 (last six games, 6-0): Even with a late bye week (Week 16), the Patriots continued their late-season roll. On Nov. 25, the Patriots were 5-5. They didn’t lose again, beating Carolina, 38-6, in the regular-season finale, then winning three playoff games to bring home the franchise’s first Lombardi Trophy.

2003(6-0): The Patriots blanked the Bills, 31-0, to end the regular season, and entered the playoffs on a 12-game win streak. They added three more victories to claim their second Super Bowl.

2004(5-1): Only a 29-28 loss at Miami on Dec. 20 kept the 14-2 Patriots from winning their final nine regular-season games, but they beat the Colts at home in the divisional round, won at Pittsburgh in the AFC Championship game, then defended their Super Bowl title by beating the Eagles.

2005 (4-2): The Patriots lost their regular-season finale at home to Miami, 28-26, but Brady played only the first quarter. They had won four straight before that, all by at least 10 points. A wild-card home playoff win over Jacksonville sent the Patriots to Denver for a divisional game, but the Broncos advanced, 27-13.

2006 (5-1): There were three victories to close the regular season, including road wins on Christmas Eve (Jacksonville) and New Year’s Eve (Tennessee), but the 12-4 Patriots could only grab the No. 4 seed. They beat the Jets, then upset the top-seeded Chargers in the divisional round, but couldn’t make it two straight road wins, losing at Indianapolis in the AFC Championship Game, 38-34.

2007 (6-0): There were some close calls down the stretch — 3-point wins over the Eagles, Ravens, and Giants — but the Patriots authored the first 16-0 regular season in NFL history behind MVP Brady and a record-setting offense. After a pair of home playoff wins, the dream of a perfect season ended with a last-minute loss to the Giants in Super Bowl XLII.

2009 (3-3): Back-to-back road losses in Weeks 11-12 to New Orleans and Miami left the Patriots in need of a late run to secure the division title, and they responded with three straight wins. The Patriots then suffered two losses in the regular-season finale at Houston: They lost the game to the Texans and receiver Wes Welker to a knee injury. The following Sunday, without Welker, they lost at home to the Ravens on wild-card weekend.

2010 (6-0): The Patriots were rolling at the end of the season, blowing out the Jets (45-3), Bears (36-7), Bills (34-3), and Dolphins (38-7) as part of an eight-game win streak heading into the playoffs. Which made the 28-21 loss to the Jets in the divisional round all the more puzzling.

2011 (6-0): The only losses in a 13-3 season came in Week 3 at Buffalo, then in back-to-back games against the Steelers and Giants in Weeks 8-9. But the Patriots won their final eight to secure the AFC’s No. 1 seed, and used it to win two home playoff games and advance to Super Bowl XLVI, where the Giants worked their late-game magic to win again.

2012 (5-1): The only loss over the final two months of the season came at home against the 49ers, and even that was eventful: The Patriots erased a 28-point deficit before losing, 41-34. They rebounded to win the last two games of the regular season, received a gift when the top-seeded Broncos lost in the divisional round, but saw the Ravens win the AFC Championship game at Gillette Stadium.

2013 (5-1): Losing at Miami in Week 15 was the only blemish over the final six games, and the Patriots routed the Colts, 43-22, to advance to the AFC Championship game. But this one was played in Denver, and the Broncos secured a spot in the Super Bowl with a 26-16 win.

2014 (4-2): The only meaningful defeat over the final 12 regular-season games came on Thanksgiving weekend at Green Bay. By the regular-season finale, the Patriots already had locked up the No. 1 AFC seed, so they sat a number of starters. Brady played the first half of that 17-9 home loss to Buffalo, a game that many fans forgot about once the Patriots won three playoff games, including Super Bowl XLIX.

No Patriots team under Belichick had dropped the final two regular-season games before this one. This team has been hit with a rash of injuries, though, so their hope is that with the return of so many key players in time for the Jan. 16 divisional game, another playoff win streak will make fans forget about a loss late in the regular season.

“I like a bye week,’’ receiver Brandon LaFell said after Sunday’s loss to the Dolphins. “We need it. We need it right now.’’

Michael Whitmer can be reached at mwhitmer@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @GlobeWhitmer.