This is an example of the formula used for determining opponents for teams that finished in last place in each of the five-team divisions between 1978 and 1994, when the league consisted of 28 teams playing 16 games each.
The 1990 New England Patriots finished in last place in the
AFC East. Therefore, in
1991, they played all of their division rivals (marked in blue) twice each, one game against each team in the four-team
AFC Central (marked in yellow), two games against the last-place finisher in the
AFC West (marked in orange), and one game each against the last-place finishers in the
NFC East and
NFC Central (marked in red).