Just as the NFL season starts getting revved up each summer, the latest installment of the Madden video game series is released to plenty of fanfare.
Madden has become the authority in NFL video games, as it's been about the only football game you can purchase for video game systems for two decades now. Players and fans alike are usually hyped for the game to come out, as players can't wait to see what overall rating the game assigns them.
Recently, Miami Dolphins wide receiver Tyreek Hill even stated that he doesn't watch film to scout opponents, but instead goes and checks their Madden rating.
Simulating the season is always fun, too. While it's for entertainment purposes only, fans can gain some insight as to how the season could shake out, as Madden often has teams placed similarly to how they perform in real life. Tyler Sullivan of CBS Sports recently did just that, and his simulation came out quite favorably for the Los Angeles Chargers, leading to some fun discussions for fans to have.
Chargers Madden '26 season simulation
For starters, Chargers head coach Jim Harbaugh wins the Coach of the Year Award. While many fans felt that Harbaugh should have gotten more recognition for that award last year, he finished sixth in the voting. In this simulation, he comes out on top.
"In just his second season as coach of the Los Angeles Chargers, Harbaugh is bringing home some hardware. Harbaugh won Coach of the Year for the second time in his NFL career (last came in 2011) after the Chargers broke out with a 14-3 record. That was tied for the best record in the conference, but two of those three losses came against the Chiefs, which lost them the head-to-head tiebreaker and fell just short of the division and top seed in the AFC", wrote Sullivan.
As you can see from that analysis, the Chargers finish 14-3 on the season in this simulation. That is even better than this incredibly generous prediction from Bleacher Report.
Because the Chargers lost twice to the Chiefs, they drop all the way down to the No. 5 seed and end up with a road playoff game against the No. 4-seeded Tennessee Titans. They win that game, 34-20. Then, in the divisional round, they get their revenge on the Chiefs with a 24-21 upset at Arrowhead Stadium. How sweet would that be for Chargers fans?
Onto the AFC Championship Game, the Chargers find themselves in Baltimore, where the Ravens finally end their run, nipping them 16-13 to head to Super Bowl LX. Interestingly, the simulation has the other Los Angeles team, the Rams, in the NFC Championship Game.
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In the end, the Green Bay Packers win the Super Bowl on a 'Hail Mary' at the end, finishing off what would be an incredible NFL season if it came true. While the Chargers don't win it all here, fans would be happy with this result in just year two under Harbaugh.
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