The Madden Curse is a well-known blight in the world of sports video games. Apparently, the curse is moving on after a few years of not affecting a few of the chosen cover athletes. The next medium the curse has seemingly jumped to is ESPN's Monday Night Football Manningcast.
The Manningcast is ESPN's attempt to do Twitch-style streams during the NFL's Monday Night Football game where former NFL Quarterback (QB) brothers Peyton and Eli Manning talk through the game live on ESPN2 while the game happens on ESPN. Active players that have the night off stop by to chat with the Manning brothers while the game goes on. The Manningcast has seemingly taken on the characteristics of the Madden Curse and has suddenly become a trend for players that have appeared on the show to immediately either suffer injuries or have their team absolutely stink in their next game.
The evidence of the Madden Curse becoming the "Manningcast Curse" comes from the online publication Sporting News, which has compiled the data. In Week 1, the Manningcast had Seattle Seahawks Quarterback Russell Wilson on the show, which then saw the team lose the following week. Then in Week 3, Russell Wilson injured his middle finger on his throwing hand that required surgery and will be out for weeks. Also in Week 1, Kansas City Chiefs Tight End Travis Kelce stopped by to chat. In the Chiefs' next matchup against former cover athlete Lamar Jackson and the Baltimore Ravens, they also lost, blowing a 2 touchdown lead in an Overtime loss, 36-35.
Not even Tom Brady and the defending NFL Champion Tampa Bay Buccaneers could avoid the bad luck. First, Tampa TE Rob Gronkowski made an appearance in Week 2, then suffered their first loss of the season to the Los Angeles Rams. Then Tom Brady had a nightmare on his Halloween matchup with the New Orleans Saints. He threw for 4 TDs, but threw 2 interceptions, one of which was a pick-6, and fumbled, leading to a 36-27 loss.
In terms of the previously mentioned Rams, the week after their convincing win, QB Matthew Stafford appeared on Manningcast, then he had his season-worst game in a woeful 37-20 drubbing by the Arizona Cardinals.
The power of the Madden Curse seemed to be waning as former cover athletes Patrick Mahomes, Ravens QB Lamar Jackson have become stars in the league, Tom Brady and Gronk became NFL Champions three times and Brady shares Madden 22's cover with Mahomes. Even the Madden Curse has to adapt to the times.
Source: Sporting News