Super Bowl LI (51 in roman numerals) kicks off this Sunday, Feb. 5 at the NRG Stadium in Houston, Texas. The New England Patriots will take on the Atlanta Falcons in the biggest game in all of American sports.
Electronic Arts has used its Madden NFL franchise to simulate the winner of each Bowl every year since 2004. This year, Madden NFL 17 predicts the Patriots will beat the Falcons with a score of 27-24. Now, a CPU vs. CPU game is not the most scientific way to place bets on a team, but the series’ predictions have been proven more correct than wrong.
In fact, one year the game was able to correctly predict the winner and the exact score. Starting with Super Bowl XXXVIII in 2004, let’s look back at every prediction to see how accurate of a sim Madden truly is.
Super Bowl XXXVIII (2004)
Teams: New England Patriots vs. Carolina Panthers
Game: Madden NFL 2004 (PC, PlayStation 2, Nintendo Gamecube, Xbox, Game Boy Advance)
Simulation winner/score: New England Patriots 23-20
Actual winner/score: New England Patriots 32-29
Madden NFL’s prediction scorecard: 1-0
Sure the exact score wasn’t right, but hey, they did get the winner right, and that it would be a close three point victory.
Super Bowl XXXIX (2005)
Teams: New England Patriots vs. Philadelphia Eagles
Game: Madden NFL 2005 (PC, PS2, GCN, Xbox, GBA, Nintendo DS, Tapwave Zodiac)
Simulation winner/score: New England Patriots 47-31
Actual winner/score: New England Patriots 24-21
Madden NFL’s prediction scorecard: 2-0
Madden knew we had a dynasty on our hands with the Patriots before everyone else apparently, picking them to win two years in a row.
Super Bowl XL (2006)
Teams: Pittsburgh Steelers vs. Seattle Seahawks
Game: Madden NFL 06 (PC, PS2, GCN, Xbox, Xbox 360, GBA, NDS, PlayStation Portable, Windows mobile, mobile phone)
Simulation winner/score: Pittsburgh Steelers 24-19
Actual winner/score: Pittsburgh Steelers 21-10
Madden NFL’s prediction scorecard: 3-0
The score was pretty off this year, as that Superbowl in reality wasn’t as close as Madden thought it was going to be (Steelers were far better) but Madden still checks off another correct winner.
Super Bowl XLI (2007)
Teams: Indianapolis Colts vs. Chicago Bears
Game: Madden NFL 07 (PC, PS2, PlayStation 3, GCN, Nintendo Wii, Xbox, X360, GBA, NDS, PSP)
Simulation winner/score: Indianapolis Colts 38-27
Actual winner/score: Indianapolis Colts 29-17
Madden NFL’s prediction scorecard: 4-0
That’s four years in a row for Madden. While the score was slightly off, the point differential was very close.
Super Bowl XLII (2008)
Teams: New York Giants vs. New England Patriots
Game: Madden NFL 08 (PC, Mac, PS2, PS3, GCN, Wii, Xbox, X360, NDS, PSP)
Simulation winner/score: New England Patriots 38-30
Actual winner/score: New York Giants 17-14
Madden NFL’s prediction scorecard: 4-1
To be fair, no one gave the Giants a shot in this game against the then undefeated Patriots. Miracles happened this year.
Super Bowl XLIII (2009)
Teams: Pittsburgh Steelers vs. Arizona Cardinals
Game: Madden NFL 09 (PS2, PS3, Wii, Xbox, X360, NDS, PSP)
Simulation winner/score: Pittsburgh Steelers 28-24
Actual winner/score: Pittsburgh Steelers 27-23
Madden NFL’s prediction scorecard: 5-1
Going down as one of the classic Superbowls of all time, Madden 09 almost had this one nailed perfectly. It had the right winner, but was just one point off for each team.
Super Bowl XLIV (2010)
Teams: New Orleans Saints vs. Indianapolis Colts
Game: Madden NFL 10 (PS2, PS3, Wii, X360, PSP, iOS)
Simulation winner/score: New Orleans Saints 35-31
Actual winner/score: New Orleans Saints 31-17
Madden NFL’s prediction scorecard: 6-1
I think it’s safe to say there’s a trend here now. Sure it was a year where the score was pretty off, but that’s six correct winners called to just one being wrong to this point.
Super Bowl XLV (2011)
Teams: Green Bay Packers vs. Pittsburgh Steelers
Game: Madden NFL 11 (PS2, PS3, Wii, X360, PSP, iOS)
Simulation winner/score: Pittsburgh Steelers 24-20
Actual winner/score: Green Bay Packers 31-25
Madden NFL’s prediction scorecard: 6-2
Perhaps Aaron Rodgers greatness wasn’t fully revealed until after this Superbowl win, and that’s what threw off Madden 11 that year.
Super Bowl XLVI (2012)
Teams: New York Giants vs. New England Patriots
Game: Madden NFL 12 (PS2, PS3, Wii, X360, PSP, iOS, Android, Blackberry Playbook)
Simulation winner/score: New York Giants 27-24
Actual winner/score: New York Giants 21-17
Madden NFL’s prediction scorecard: 7-2
Madden clearly learned from its mistake the last time, and quickly found out that you don’t bet against Eli Manning in the Superbowl against the Patriots.
Super Bowl XLVII (2013)
Teams: Baltimore Ravens vs. San Francisco 49ers
Game: Madden NFL 13 (PS3, Wii, Wii U, X360, PlayStation Vita, iOS, Android)
Simulation winner/score: Baltimore Ravens 27-24
Actual winner/score: Baltimore Ravens 34-31
Madden NFL’s prediction scorecard: 8-2
Yet another game where the point differential was correct, it was just slightly off. The power probably stayed on though in the simulation
Super Bowl XLVIII (2014)
Teams: Seattle Seahawks vs. Denver Broncos
Game: Madden NFL 25 (PS3, PlayStation 4, X360, Xbox One, iOS, Android)
Simulation winner/score: Denver Broncos 31-28
Actual winner/score: Seattle Seahawks 43-8
Madden NFL’s prediction scorecard: 8-3
This Superbowl was supposed to be a classic between a prolific Denver offense led by Peyton Manning versus a staunch Seattle defense. No one, not even Madden, predicted the beat down Seattle was about to hand out to Denver.
Super Bowl XLIX (2015)
Teams: New England Patriots vs. Seattle Seahawks
Game: Madden NFL 15 (PS3, PS4, X360, XONE)
Simulation winner/score: New England Patriots 28-24
Actual winner/score: New England Patriots 28-24
Madden NFL’s prediction scorecard: 9-3
NAILED it. Finally Madden gets a perfect prediction. Like the Patriots, Madden was lucky that Pete Carroll unbelievably decided not to run the ball at the end there…
Super Bowl 50 (2016)
Teams: Denver Broncos vs. Carolina Panthers
Game: Madden NFL 16 (PS3, PS4, X360, XONE)
Simulation winner/score: Carolina Panthers 24-20
Actual winner/score: Denver Broncos 24-10
Madden NFL’s prediction scorecard: 9-4
Carolina was favored by many to beat up old man Manning in this matchup. But, the Denver defense was able to prop him up for one last win…
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Do you think Madden will get it right again this year? What’s your Superbowl prediction? Let us know in the comments.
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