Question: What date did the playoff season, resulting in the New England Patriots third overall Super Bowl victory, began?

Context paragraphs:
2004 New England Patriots season: The 2004 New England Patriots season was the 35th season for the team in the National Football League and 45th season overall.  They finished with their second straight 14–2 record before advancing to and winning Super Bowl XXXIX, their third Super Bowl victory in four years.  They are, as of the present, the last team to repeat as World Champions.

2007 New York Giants season: The 2007 New York Giants season was the 83rd season for the New York Giants in the National Football League.  The Giants finished the regular season 10–6 and in second place in the NFC East, improving upon their 8–8 record in 2006 in which they finished third in their division.  They qualified for the playoffs as a wild-card team as the #5 seed, and beat the #4 seed Tampa Bay Buccaneers (9–7), the top-seeded Dallas Cowboys (13–3), and the #2 seed Green Bay Packers (13–3) to become the National Football Conference representative in Super Bowl XLII.  There, they defeated the heavily favored and previously undefeated 18–0 New England Patriots and spoiled their perfect season.  The 2007 New York Giants became the 9th wild card team in NFL history to reach the Super Bowl and the 5th wild card team to win the Super Bowl, and the very first NFC wild card to accomplish the feat.  They were the third team in history to win three road playoff games en route to a Super Bowl and set a league record for most consecutive road wins in a single season (11), though the Super Bowl is played on a neutral field rather than an opponent's stadium.  It was the 7th league championship season for the New York Giants and their first since they won Super Bowl XXV in 1991.

Super Bowl XXXI: Super Bowl XXXI was an American football game between the American Football Conference (AFC) champion New England Patriots and the National Football Conference (NFC) champion Green Bay Packers to decide the National Football League (NFL) champion for the 1996 season.  The Packers defeated the Patriots by the score of 35–21, earning their third overall Super Bowl victory, and their first since Super Bowl II.  The Packers also extended their league record for the most overall NFL championships to 12.  It was also the last in a run of 13 straight Super Bowl victories by the NFC over the AFC.  The game was played on January 26, 1997 at the Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana.

2005 Pittsburgh Steelers season: The 2005 Pittsburgh Steelers season began with the team trying to improve on their 15–1 record from 2004 in which they lost to the New England Patriots in the AFC Championship Game at Heinz Field.  They were looking to become the first team in NFL history to complete a 16-game season undefeated.  The Steelers, with the sixth and final seed to the playoffs, became just the second team ever (and the first in 20 years) to win three road games on their way to the Super Bowl.  They defeated the NFC Champion Seattle Seahawks in Super Bowl XL to secure their league-tying fifth Super Bowl title.  In doing so, they also became the first team since the 1970 AFL-NFL merger to win a Super Bowl without playing a single home playoff game.

2010 New York Jets season: The 2010 New York Jets season was the franchise's 41st season in the National Football League, the 51st season overall and the team's first season at New Meadowlands Stadium.  The team improved on their 9–7 record from 2009 and reached the playoffs again.  The Jets played their first pre-season game home against the New York Giants to open up Meadowlands Stadium.  Many considered them AFC East favorites; head coach Rex Ryan went so far as to guarantee a Super Bowl victory.  Jets broke a team record with a franchise best 6 consecutive wins on the road with a win against the Lions, followed by a win against the Browns in week 10.  In the same victory against the Browns, the Jets became the first team in NFL history to win back-to-back road games in overtime.  The Jets were the last NFL team to be undefeated on the road, before suffering a 45–3 loss at the New England Patriots in Week 13.  The Jets met the Patriots again five weeks later in the AFC Divisional Round back in Foxboro where New York defeated New England 28–21.  The following week, the Jets lost 24–19 against the Pittsburgh Steelers in the AFC Championship.  To date, this was the last time the New York Jets qualified for the postseason, as of 2016.

Super Bowl XX: Super Bowl XX was an American football game between the National Football Conference (NFC) champion Chicago Bears and the American Football Conference (AFC) champion New England Patriots to decide the National Football League (NFL) champion for the 1985 season.  The Bears defeated the Patriots by the score of 46–10, capturing their first NFL championship (and Chicago's first overall sports victory) since 1963, three years prior to the birth of the Super Bowl.  Super Bowl XX was played on January 26, 1986 at the Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans.  This was the first of nine Super Bowl appearances for New England.

Dallas Cowboys: The Dallas Cowboys are a professional American football team based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex.  The Cowboys compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) East division.  The team is headquartered in Frisco, Texas, and plays its home games at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas, which opened for the 2009 season.  The stadium took its current name prior to the 2013 season.  The Cowboys joined the NFL as an expansion team in .  The team's national following might best be represented by its NFL record of consecutive sell-outs.  The Cowboys' streak of 190 consecutive sold-out regular and post-season games (home and away) began in 2002.  The franchise has made it to the Super Bowl eight times, tied with the Pittsburgh Steelers, and the Denver Broncos for second most Super Bowl appearances in history, just behind the New England Patriots record nine Super Bowl appearances.  This has also corresponded to eight NFC championships, most in the NFC.  The Cowboys have won five of those Super Bowl appearances, tying them with their NFC rivals, the San Francisco 49ers, and the AFC's Patriots; all three are second to Pittsburgh's record six Super Bowl championships.  The Cowboys are the only NFL team to record 20 straight winning seasons (1966–85), in which they only missed the playoffs twice (1974 and 1984), an NFL record that remains unchallenged.

1996–97 NFL playoffs: The National Football League playoffs for the 1996 season began on December 28, 1996.  The postseason tournament concluded with the Green Bay Packers defeating the New England Patriots in Super Bowl XXXI, 35–21, on January 26, 1997, at the Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans, Louisiana.

Karen Link: Link is a NFL Cheerleader for the New England Patriots.  She was born and raised in Terryville, Connecticut and attended Endicott College in Beverly, Massachusetts where she graduated with a degree in Communications.  Link won the title of Miss Connecticut's Outstanding Teen in 2007 and went on to compete in Miss America's Outstanding Teen pageant.  Her competition talent was a Spanish-influenced tap dance.  Shortly after returning from the national pageant, Link was a passenger in a head-on collision and suffered a broken spine.  After emergency surgery and rehabilitation, Link began dancing again.  In 2014, Link was chosen to join the New England Patriots Cheerleaders and cheered at Super Bowl XLIX where the New England Patriots defeated the Seattle Seahawks.  Link became captain of the Patriots Cheerleaders in 2016 and cheered at her second Super Bowl (Super Bowl LI), where the New England Patriots defeated the Atlanta Falcons.

Super Bowl XLVIII: Super Bowl XLVIII was an American football game between the American Football Conference (AFC) champion Denver Broncos and National Football Conference (NFC) champion Seattle Seahawks to decide the National Football League (NFL) champion for the 2013 season.  The Seahawks defeated the Broncos 43–8, the largest margin of victory for an underdog and tied for the third largest point differential overall (35) in Super Bowl history with Super Bowl XXVII (1993).  It was the first time the winning team scored over 40 points, while holding their opponent to under 10.  This became the first Super Bowl victory for the Seahawks and the fifth Super Bowl loss for the Broncos, the most of any team.  The game was played on February 2, 2014, at MetLife Stadium at the Meadowlands Sports Complex in East Rutherford, New Jersey, the first Super Bowl played outdoors in a cold-weather city and the first Super Bowl to be played on a February 2.

Supporting paragraphs: 1996–97 NFL playoffs Super Bowl XXXI
Answer: December 28, 1996