That Pesky Madden Curse

Before the beginning of each season, the rabid hoards of maddenites get their crack at due process by voting for the player they would most like to see on the cover of the next Madden Football.

It is a magical time when the millions of chubby, zit-faced never-wases get to feel the pride of knowing they made a difference. It stands as the ultimate backseat driver moment where those who would never dare play one of the world's most physical games, and couldn't even if they dared, can effectively take revenge on one unsuspecting player who had the misfortune of catching the eye of the world's have-nots.

Associated with the selection is the seemingly automatic catching of the phenomenon known as "The Madden Curse." It is a cruel virus that infects only last years winners. Symptoms include lower stats, injuries, and excessive suckage. You see, over the past decade, the virus has become legend, taking the cover from an honor to a hellish punishment.

consider it's history before you scoff at it's existence:


Madden 2000 (1999): This was the last cover with John Madden on the cover, but it also included a background image of Lion’s RB Barry Sanders, who, to the shock of many, up and retired just before the start of training camp.

Madden ’01 (2000): Although Eddie George enjoyed his best statistical season (1962 total yards and 16 total TDs), he bobbled a pass that was subsequently intercepted and returned for a touchdown in the Titans’ season ending Divisional Playoff loss, and the following season, hampered by injuries, saw his average drop to a career low (3.0 yds/carry).

Madden ’02 (2001): Dante Culpepper was on Madden 03 after taking his team to the NFC Championship game the season before, and the Vikings started the season 4-7 before he suffered a season ending knee injury, and never again quarterbacked a winning team.

Madden ’03 (2002): After rushing for 1,300 yards in each of the previous four seasons, plagued by an ankle injury, Hall of Famer Marshall Faulk rushed for only 953 yds and finished with a 7-9 record.

Madden ’04 (2003): To make the aforementioned incident worse, Vick broke his leg just one day after Madden ’04 hit shelves!

Madden ’05 (2004): Ray Lewis, who had a career high in interceptions (6) in 2003, recorded zero interceptions for the first time in his career. He then sat out the last game of the season due to injury as his Ravens missed the playoffs at 9-7. The following season, Lewis tore his hamstring six games into the season and missed rest of the year.

Madden ’06 (2005): Donovan McNabb brought the curse upon himself, proclaiming that the injuries associated with the curse “might be a trend, but I don’t believe in the curse at all.” Sure enough, McNabb suffered a sports hernia in the first game of the 2005 campaign. McNabb’s tough though, he played through the pain for 8 games, but after re-injuring it Week 11 at home against Dallas, he went ahead and had the surgery – missing the last seven games of the season; watching his Eagles finish last in the division.

Madden ’07 (2006): Shaun Alexander was on the cover of Madden ’07 – that pretty much ended his career! After rushing for 1880 yards and 27 TDs in ’05, Alexander broke his left foot in a Week 3 game versus the Giants, and missed the next six games; unlike most of his predecessors, his team actually made the playoffs – losing to the Bears in the Divisional Round. After that 1880 yard season and the Madden cover, Alexander only played 27 games the rest of his career, rushing for only 1636 yards.

Madden ’08 (2007): While Vince Young only missed one game in ’07 (Quad injury) it was the first game he had EVER missed in his life due to injury. He also threw eight more interceptions than touchdowns (8TD, 17INT).

Madden ’09 (2008): You know Brett Favre doesn’t miss games, but his Jets started the season 8-3, only for Brett to get cursed by bad play – an average 55.4 QB rating in their last five games (4 losses), causing them to just miss the playoffs. Brett also threw a league high 22 INTs. Brett later admitted that he had actually gotten hurt (torn bicep), but played through the injury.

Madden ’10 (2009): Larry Fitzgerald and Troy Polamalu shared the cover in 2009, and low and behold, the first game of the season Polamalu sprained his MCL and missed the next four games. He came back and played the following three games problem free before injuring his PCL in Week 10 – thus ending his season. Fitzgerald, who is a strong believer in the Madden curse, ironically played all 16 games and had a great year: 97 rec 1092 yds 13TD, although he did sit out the Pro Bowl due to a rib injury. *NOTE* Respect the curse and the curse will respect you!

Madden ’11 (2010): Drew Brees, also did not get hurt, but hurt a lot of fantasy teams with all the interceptions he threw. Like Favre, he threw 22 INTs in his Madden year, and got bounced in the first round to the worst playoff team of all time (record-wise).

We can now add Peyton Hillis to the list of the accursed. His season following the above cover appearance has been hampered with low production and hamstring injuries. Interestingly enough, Hillis and Vick were the two finalists and both are having sub-par seasons. Apparently, the curse extends to even being considered!