Wednesday morning, Green Bay Packers fans woke up to one of their worst offseason nightmares.
Chicago Bears quarterback Caleb Williams had officially been revealed as the cover athlete for Madden '27 and, as predicted, Bears fans were, well ... unbearable (no pun intended).
Not that it is ever OK to root for an injury to another player, but Packers fans likely can't help themselves when it comes to bringing up the infamous "Madden Curse."
For the record, the curse doesn't necessarily have to equate to said player being injured. And, that's exactly where we will open up the debate.
Packers fans would love nothing more than for Caleb Williams to suffer from the infamous 'Madden Curse'
Last year, Philadelphia Eagles running back Saquon Barkley earned the cover after having the best season of his career. The famous backwards hurdle was the image choice, of course.
But then, Barkley would go on to have an incredibly lackluster season. Compared to his 2,005 rushing yards in 2024, Barkley's number of 1,140 in 2025 felt like he took a significant turn for the worse. His yards per carry went from a strong 5.8 in 2024 all the way down to just 4.1 in 2025. His rushing touchdowns were nearly cut in half, going from 13 down to just seven.
Previous NFL players to take on the title of Madden cover athlete have endured far worse than Barkley, with injuries occurring to players like Garrison Hearst all the way back in 1999, Daunte Culpepper on the cover of 2002, Marshall Faulk in 2003, Michael Vick in 2004, Donovan McNabb in 2006, and Shaun Alexander in 2007.
Later covers featuring the likes of Adrian Peterson, Richard Sherman, Rob Gronkowski and Antonio Brown in the 2010s saw those players endure different hardships as well, coming just the season after wearing that crown.
So the question becomes ... will Packers fans get to rub salt in the wounds of Bears fans after the 2026 season?
Let's be real, here: Williams gets the Madden cover after just one good season. What gives?
Jordan Love has arguably been a top-10 quarterback for a couple of years now, but I suppose not having the fame of being a no. 1 overall pick and all of the attention that follows Williams is enough to disallow him from having that privilege.
Or is it a privilege?
The curse has been broken in the past and now it lives on as more of a myth, although Barkley certainly brought the conversation back last year. The idea of the Madden Curse is not nothing, so why not hope for a down year for the Bears' starting quarterback?
Again, it would be in poor taste and downright disrespectful to any athlete to wish an injury. We aren't doing that for Williams. Besides, Packers fans would probably like to beat a healthy Bears team rather than relishing in wins over backup quarterbacks ... hint, hint.
Time will tell, but you can bet Packers fans are going to be holding onto this narrative only to revisit it towards the end of the 2026 campaign.
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