Don't worry Patriots fans, the 'Madden' Curse is officially dead

The Madden Curse is dead. Long live the Madden Curse.

If you believed that whoever graced the cover of Madden would either suffer an injury or have an awful season (especially now if you're a New England Patriots die-hard), it looks like it's a thing of the past.

What's the proof? Just look at three recent years of Madden NFL covers:

2013: Detroit Lions wideout Calvin Johnson appeared. The news was announced in 2012 -- later that year, he grabbed 122 passes for a jaw-dropping 1,964 receiving yards. In 2013, he totaled 84 catches for 1,492 yards and 12 touchdowns and followed that up with a 71-1,077-8, which is pretty good considering he missed three games. His final season in the NFL? An 88-1,214-9.

2015: Richard Sherman graced the cover (the main cover of the 2014 25th anniversary edition featured Barry Sanders) and hasn't stopped being one of the NFL's top cornerbacks since. Maybe this helped too (via ESPN):

Wondering what did the trick? I have a theory: John Madden himself said this to the Detroit Free Press (via Pro Football Talk) back in 2012 when everyone worried what would happen to Johnson. "It’s a violent sport. Injuries are going to happen." Curse. Broken.

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