I don’t think winning the Super Bowl would’ve changed the trajectory as the following years were met with injuries to major players. Had Martin been healthy, they easily beat Pittsburgh in the regular season and lock up the #2 seed in 1997. A healthy team gets to the AFCCG.
But what derailed this team was letting talent walk and not replacing it. They had a chance to lock up Curtis Martin before FA, but low balled him offering $2M per year as a restricted FA because they were afraid he was injury prone. That’s when the Jets swooped in with and gave the Pats the “poison pill”. The rationale I’ve heard through the years was that they wouldn’t have been able to sign McGinest, Law and Milloy had they signed Martin.
Losing Sam Gash was another idiotic move that would’ve helped Robert Edwards in his rookie year.
Letting Jimmy Hitchcock walk was another goof.
Megget was another big loss as their back up RB’s were atrocious.
Carroll’s nail in the coffin was getting rid of Willie Clay in favor of Chris Carter, the worst FS that would give Jordan Richards a run for his money. The secondary was awful in 1999.
They also couldn’t draft or under utilized their draft picks (Greg Spires). This is what detailed the late 90’s Pats. Teams quickly caught up to them as they were eroding.