For nearly two decades, Tom Brady, Bill Belichick, and the New England Patriots ran the AFC East, winning six Super Bowls and going to nine in total during that stretch. Since Brady left, they've only made the playoffs once. It was a fun ride, but Patriots superfan Mark Wahlberg was okay with their recent struggles.
“I was actually enjoying the Patriots not being good for a while,” Wahlberg told ClutchPoints, “because I didn't have any more stress.”
Wahlberg was talking to ClutchPoints about his new Prime Video movie, Play Dirty, streaming now, and of course, the Patriots came up.
Brady left after the 2019 season, continuing to play for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He won one Super Bowl with his second team before retiring. Belichick stayed with the Patriots through 2023, going 29-67 after Brady left. Their lone playoff appearance was in 2021 when they went 10-7 with Mac Jones under center, losing in the Wild Card Round to the Buffalo Bills.
“The amount of times that I like yelled at somebody in my house with my wife or my kids, or threw something, smashed something, just the feeling of anxiety; losing my appetite,” he explained.
Still, he feels like a change could be coming for the better. Last year, Wahlberg predicted the Patriots would go 10-7, and he expressed his support for first-year head coach Jerod Mayo, who was later fired.
Wahlberg is equally confident in Mike Vrabel, who, like Mayo, played for the Patriots before becoming their head coach. “I am very optimistic about Coach Vrabel,” he said, continuing, “But you can't win a game turning the ball over six times, that's for sure,” talking about their Week 3 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers when they turned it over five times.
How are Mark Wahlberg's Patriots doing in 2025?
With one month of the season in the books, the Patriots are .500. They have won two of their first four games. Drake Maye, a 2024 first round pick out of North Carolina, is in his second season as the starter.
After losing their Week 1 game against the Las Vegas Raiders — Brady is a part owner of the team — they beat their division rivals, the Miami Dolphins. They then lost to the Steelers before blowing out the Carolina Panthers.
Now, they will face the Buffalo Bills on Sunday Night Football in Week 5. The Bills currently lead the AFC East at 4-0. They have won the division each of the last five years with Josh Allen under center.
It may not be their division for long, though. Wahlberg conceded that it's theirs “for now,” but he doesn't believe the Bills' reign will “be long.”
“It may be another Bills reign at the top of the division without a Super Bowl,” Wahlberg concluded.
