Good job, Internet: you might have killed the Madden Curse.
Evidence of the "Madden Curse" — which states that players who appear on the cover of the game will have a terrible season — is pretty strong. It happened every year from 2002-2012.
But last season, cover star Calvin Johnson broke Jerry Rice's single-season receiving yards mark and maintained his spot as the NFL's top wide receiver. At least for a year, the curse was broken.
And in 2013, NFL legend Barry Sanders beat out the league's reigning MVP, Adrian Peterson, in a fan vote to become the cover athlete of this year's Madden NFL 25. As you might know, Barry Sanders is retired.
Considering that Barry Sanders is out of the game and in the Hall of Fame, there's no real way that he can succumb to the "Madden Curse," meaning that two years in a row the Curse will be for naught.
Via: Al Messerschmidt / Getty Images