The vibes in Chicago are different these days, and perhaps the greatest example of this is the cover of Madden 27. Caleb Williams is gracing the cover of the legendary video game franchise, marking the first time a Bears player has ever been featured on the Madden cover. Not only that, but it’s immediately one of the more memorable entries in the franchise, with Williams evoking Michael Jordan’s “Air Jordan” pose.
Williams is also on the cover of the Deluxe Edition of the game, with a close-up shot of the star, similar to how we’ve seen in other recent entries.
Naturally the response to seeing your star player on the cover is “MADDEN CURSE!” But honestly, it’s been hit-and-miss for the last few years. The curse last got Christian McCaffrey in 2024 when he was injured for the majority of the season, but the last true curse prior to that was in 2017 when Rob Gronkowski was hurt. People still try and find ways to justify that the curse is real, but it has largely faded in the last decade or so.
Now that the Bears have representation on the cover of Madden we’re left with nine teams who have never had a cover athlete:
The Browns and Jets will forever win the awards for the funniest covers, with one-year-wonder Peyton Hillis getting the nod for Cleveland, and Jets-era Brett Favre appearing only on the PS2 cover of Madden 09 because it went to print after the trade.
