If you happen to're a soccer fan, there's hardly an opportunity you haven't heard of the “Madden” curse.
The obvious and notorious slur goes like this: The participant on the quilt of EA Sports activities' annual NFL online game is doomed to come across one thing vile: normally diminished playability or maybe even severe harm. Superstition at its finest. The San Francisco 49ers are a workforce that positive hopes the curse isn't actual, with reigning Offensive Participant of the 12 months Christian McCaffrey. this 12 months's cowl star.
EA itself has publicly denied the existence of the curse, which tells you all it’s worthwhile to learn about its recognition. Others, like indoor athletes themselves, do promoted the annual hullabaloo as a fable. And but, whether or not you actually concern your favourite workforce's struggling by the hands of “Madden” or simply discover all of it ridiculously foolish, the curse by no means fairly went away. Or sure?
Let's take a look at the destiny of all 25 cowl athletes since 2000, utilizing years from “Madden” titles (the 2024 sport is “Madden 25”) to seek out the decision:
George went on to hurry for greater than 1,500 yards in his breakout season, but additionally misplaced a career-high variety of sacks, fumbled the ball within the Titans' season-ending playoff sport, and by no means averaged greater than 3.4 yards per carry. transmission. the remainder of his profession.
Assertion: Cursed
After throwing for 33 touchdowns and going 11-5 as a starter in 2000, Culpepper took a nostril dive throughout his breakout season. Accidents price him six video games, he fumbled 16 occasions, threw simply 14 touchdowns in opposition to 13 picks and went 4-7 in his begins.
Assertion: Cursed
2003: Rams RB Marshall Faulk
The Corridor of Famer enters his title season after 5 straight 1,000-yard seasons and three straight 1,300-yard campaigns. However in 2002, Faulk broke down, lacking practically half a dozen begins. He by no means topped 1,000 yards once more.
Assertion: Cursed
Within the sport, Vick was unstoppable along with his unmatched velocity. On the sector, regardless of exploding onto the scene as a No. 1 prospect, a fractured fibula sidelined him for all however 5 video games lower than every week after the sport's launch. 4 years later he was in jail.
Assertion: Cursed
His hit whole dropped from six to zero in 2004, his breakout 12 months, and the Ravens additionally missed the playoffs. However that's nitpicking. He nonetheless recorded 147 video games. If we had been speaking in regards to the following 12 months, this may very well be the case as a result of he missed 10 video games.
Assertion: Not cursed
McNabb reached his peak in 2004 when he threw for 31 touchdowns and led the Eagles to Tremendous Bowl XXXIX. However 2005 was on the backside. He struggled with Terrell Owens and missed practically half of a 6-10 season. He additionally missed eight video games over the subsequent two years.
Assertion: Cursed
Like Faulk, he entered his breakout 12 months with 5 straight 1,000-yard seasons. And his dominance additionally stopped. In 2006, his whole dropped from 1,880 to 896, and two years later he was out of the NFL, with the Washington Redskins.
Assertion: Cursed
He was the 2006 Offensive Rookie of the 12 months. In his breakout 12 months, nonetheless, Younger threw simply 9 touchdowns in opposition to 17 interceptions, lacking a sport and incomes a spot on the bench for 2008 with out totally incomes Jeff Fisher's belief.
Assertion: Cursed
2009: Packers/Jets QB Brett Favre
EA began by making Favre the quilt athlete as a tribute to his Packers profession that had simply ended. However then Favre compelled his manner out and into New York. All he did there was throw 22 NFL picks and harm his shoulder earlier than shifting to Minnesota.
Assertion: Cursed
Fitz had one in every of his commonplace 1,000-plus-yard Professional Bowl seasons, however Polamalu missed a career-high 11 video games in 2009 with an MCL harm and recorded a career-low 20 video games.
Assertion: Half Cursed
Throwing 33 factors and incomes one other Professional Bowl choice is an effective factor, however Brees had what quantities to a rare season to grace the quilt, throwing a career- and franchise-high 22 picks. His Saints additionally misplaced to the 7-9 Seahawks within the playoffs.
Assertion: Cursed
Hillis, a “Madden” cult hero, grunted his technique to 1,000 yards as a shock rusher in 2010, however throughout his breakout 12 months he missed half a dozen video games with harm, averaged simply 3.6 yards per carry and settled right into a journeyman backup profession.
Assertion: Cursed
If anybody beat the curse, it was Johnson, who had each a profession and historic season the 12 months he was on the quilt. Like Barry Sanders earlier than him in Detroit, he retired comparatively early just a few years later, however in 2012 he recorded a whopping 1,964 receiving yards.
Assertion: Not cursed
If Johnson broke the curse, Peterson might have barely reignited it in 2013. Though he topped 1,000 yards for the sixth straight season, he took a giant dip from his all-time 2,000-yard marketing campaign and was charged with little one abuse after being held the next 12 months for all however one sport.
Assertion: Half Cursed
His landing whole dipped and his Seahawks didn't repeat as Tremendous Bowl champions, however in any other case Sherman was nonetheless on the prime of his sport throughout his breakout 12 months. It wasn't till after the season that he needed to bear Tommy John surgical procedure.
Assertion: Not cursed
It ought to be famous that 2015, Beckham's breakout 12 months, is when the flamboyant wideout went on a mercurial trajectory, together with a one-game suspension for his combat with Josh Norman. However he nonetheless dominated the sector with 1,400 yards.
Assertion: Not cursed
The five-time Professional Bowler had one other double-digit landing season in 2016, however missed just about the entire Patriots' first 4 video games with a hamstring harm earlier than ending with simply six begins as a consequence of a herniated disc and different harm points. .
Assertion: Cursed
2018: Patriots QB Tom Brady
With an opportunity to win a sixth Lombardi Trophy, Brady was crushed by Eagles quarterback Nick Foles in Tremendous Bowl LII. However he nonetheless threw for over 500 yards in that sport after successful one other MVP award — all at age 40. He proved resistant to the curse.
Assertion: Not cursed
Brown, probably the most gifted route runners, scored a career-high 15 touchdowns in his breakout 12 months, however it proved to be a storm within the Steelers locker room, leading to his commerce to the Raiders after the season. He performed simply 16 extra video games within the NFL, bouncing between three completely different groups amid a flurry of controversy on and off the sector.
Assertion: Cursed
Mahomes, justly honored after his historic debut as Kansas Metropolis's full-time starter, hasn't slowed down because of his online game fame. An harm price him two begins and his numbers appeared extra good than nice in 2020, however he nonetheless gained his first Tremendous Bowl at age 24.
Assertion: Not cursed
After an MVP season as an electrical twin menace, Jackson would expertise a decline in passing effectivity and longevity just a few years later, however his breakout 2020 season was nonetheless a stellar affair, marking his second straight 1,000-yard speeding marketing campaign. .
Assertion: Not cursed
2022: Buccaneers QB Tom Brady, Chiefs QB Patrick Mahomes
Each Brady and Mahomes have shared the quilt as previous and current faces of the NFL, having fun with their signature unmatched success after gracing “Madden” as soon as once more. The previous threw for five,300 yards and an NFL-high 44 touchdowns as Tampa Bay returned to the playoffs, whereas Mahomes casually threw for 37 touchdowns in a 12-5 season that ended within the AFC title sport.
Assertion: Not cursed
2023: John Madden
The Corridor of Fame coach and broadcaster died on the finish of 2021 on the age of 85, and he returned to cowl his well-known streak as a part of a tribute for the 2022 season.
Assertion: ON
Allen was the primary Payments participant to ever grace the quilt. Whereas he failed to finish Buffalo's string of disappointing postseason finishes and maintained his penchant for turnovers, the big-bodied twin menace scored 40-plus touchdowns for the fourth straight 12 months, serving as a key motive for the Payments' late-season turnaround. . He stays central to their title hopes.
Assertion: Not cursed
Ultimate verdict
So what does historical past inform us? Utilizing our annual resolutions 14 of 24 cowl athletes (or 58%) from 2000-2024 had been cursed however honest 2.5 of 10 cowl athletes (or 25%) for the final 10 years, 2014-2024, had been cursed. There has additionally not been a back-to-back “curse” since 2011-2012.
So is the “Madden” curse alive? Possibly. However perhaps it's dropping its energy.
Or, , it may simply be made up.