Besides just general enjoyment from playing the game, it feels like one of the great pastimes of the NFL season is finding a million ways to complain about the latest Madden video game. It may seem like overkill at times, but there’s no question that the franchise has made itself an easy target for a variety of reasons. Madden 23 is no different.
A player’s facial scan could be an absolute joke. Player ratings are often highly contested. Not only that, but simulations in the video game are certainly up for debate. What happened in a recent simulation of the entire 2022 season on Madden 23? Fans of certain teams may want to avert their eyes, but let’s take a look at the five teams with the worst records in the sim.
Madden 23 predicts Patriots, Chargers among NFL’s worst teams in 2022
5. Los Angeles Chargers (5-12)
The Los Angeles Chargers have been a popular pick by many pundits to win the AFC West in 2022. As good as the AFC West is this year, I would say that’s a fairly bold claim, but not completely unfounded, either. The Chargers have one of the best offenses in the NFL led by one of the league’s best young quarterbacks, Justin Herbert.
I may not be as high on the Chargers as some, but going 5-12? That’s a bad projection, even just for a Madden 23 simulation. How could the game let this one get so out of hand? No, Justin Herbert was not injured in the simulation. This is simply one outcome on a complete roll of the dice.
4. New England Patriots (5-12)
Just like the Chargers, Madden 23 has the Patriots going 5-12 this season. Again, this is just one simulation, but clearly, the video game was not impressed with the Patriots or really any AFC East team, for that matter. In fact, the AFC East predictions were arguably the most contentious in this projection with the Buffalo Bills going 9-8. After what we saw in the Week 1 opener, I highly doubt that team’s losing eight games…
The Patriots could take a step back in 2022 with Josh McDaniels off to the Raiders and JC Jackson to the Chargers, there’s no question about it. But will they go from being in the playoffs to being in the top five picks of the 2023 NFL Draft?
3. Atlanta Falcons (5-12)
I think a lot of people will see this one coming. With Marcus Mariota and/or Desmond Ridder as their starting quarterback in 2022, the Falcons certainly don’t appear — at least on paper — like they are going to contend for anything in the NFC South besides last place. That’s a pretty brutal projection while everyone’s still got an undefeated record, but you can see that this is still a team in transition, especially after trading away Matt Ryan.
2. New York Jets (4-13)
I think the New York Jets have made a lot of great improvements over the course of the 2022 offseason, but their issues at quarterback persist. Zach Wilson is starting the year hurt, so Joe Flacco will start. Expectations for this team are arguably as low as they could be given Wilson’s injury, but will they be this bad in 2022? It’s not impossible, of course, but I think Robert Saleh’s got enough talent to get this team at least six wins.
1. Chicago Bears (2-15)
It’s clear that this Madden 23 simulation did not think well of the Chicago Bears. Chicago gets the top overall pick in this scenario while Justin Fields throws 20 interceptions. Would the Bears move on in that case or would they stick with Field and get themselves a Will Anderson Jr.?
This is a brutal projection for Chicago, which is obviously hoping for a step forward and addition by subtraction after letting go of head coach Matt Nagy and replacing him with Matt Eberflus.