NEWSLETTER
The annual releasing of the Madden NFL video game ratings is a tradition unlike any other … in that it can get fans hot and/or bothered when they see where their favorite players rank. But this year, fans aren’t the only ones up in arms about the ratings.
Chase Daniel rounded up teammates Akiem Hicks, Tarik Cohen, Eddie Jackson, Allen Robinson, and Patrick Scales to release the ratings. And the reactions are priceless.
Check it out:
https://twitter.com/ChicagoBears/status/1150785288328929280
A 92 speed rating for All-Pro return specialist Tarik Cohen? Just an 87 overall rating for Pro Bowl defensive lineman Akiem Hicks? Star safety Eddie Jackson having a lower toughness rating than all of Chicago’s quarterbacks and long snapper Patrick Scales? Come on, now. Something isn’t right about any of that. These Madden rating generators need to go back to the lab and re-visit the film room to come up with some proper ratings.
A sure sign that football season is around the corner is when players are feeling disrespected by some aspect of their Madden rating. No big deal, right? After all, football is a team game. Surely, the Madden ratings will reflect some blend of what the Bears were last year and what they could be in 2019.
Let’s take a look:
The #Bears are rated 84 OVR in #Madden20. Teams ahead of them:
Eagles 89
Cowboys 88
Saints 87
Patriots 87
Packers 87
Falcons 86
Colts 86
Rams 85
Chargers 85— Zack Pearson (@Zack_Pearson) July 15, 2019
OH COME ON! The Bears shouldn’t be ranked behind the Packers or Falcons. Nope. They sure shouldn’t slide behind a pair of teams that didn’t even make the playoffs last year! To say this is absurd would simply just scratch the surface. What’s going on here?
It’s fine, though. Maybe some individual player ratings will help make sense of it all. Let’s browse through the Bears’ top-rated players for a moment:
Top #Bears players on Madden 20:
Khalil Mack – 99
Eddie Jackson – 91
Kyle Fuller – 89
Trey Burton – 87
Akiem Hicks – 87
Allen Robinson – 86
Tarik Cohen – 85
Eddie Goldman – 85
Charles Leno – 83
Taylor Gabriel – 82Other notables:
Trubisky – 75
Roquan – 81
Ha Ha – 80— Matt Eurich (@MattEurich) July 15, 2019
Well, now I’m even more confused. How does a team with this much top-end talent end up with a rating that looks like a snub? And in what football world does Trey Burton rank on the same level as Akiem Hicks? With all due respect to Burton, Hicks is a Pro Bowl stud who is a top performer on a top-tier defense. If Burton is in the high-80s, then Hicks should have received a better rating.
And then there’s quarterback Mitch Trubisky, whose rating is (once again) ridiculously low:
— Bleacher Nation Bears (@BN_Bears) July 15, 2019
Trubisky threw for more yards than Jameis Winston, tossed more touchdown passes than Winston, Matthew Stafford, Andy Dalton, Derek Carr, completed passes at a higher percentage than Stafford, Winston, Baker Mayfield, and assortment of others, and put up a higher passer rating than seven quarterbacks who have higher Madden ratings than him. After taking a significant step up after his rookie season, it would have been fair to expect his Madden rating to jump with it.
Instead, Trubisky’s 75 rating is exactly one point better than it was at this time last year. And it’s (somehow) still lower than his rookie year rating. What gives?
You can check out the Bears’ full Madden ratings here. And while some of these ratings are disappointing, at least the folks at Madden were able to get Khalil Mack’s rating correct.
