Two particular Chicago Bears have been thrown under the bus by Madden ’21.
There isn’t much NFL action on the field just yet, but fans are getting ready for the virtual party about to be thrown when Madden ’21 gets released next month. We have now seen a few of the key ratings to come out for many teams, including the Chicago Bears, and there are definitely some bones to pick.
Let’s start with the good. A couple of players seem to be just right, with Khalil Mack getting a 97 rating overall and Akiem Hicks coming in at 88 (the latter could be debated).
As always, though, fans get to bicker and complain about the majority of ratings because, let’s be honest — are we ever happy? We’re Bears fans; of course not.
There was one particular graphic that came out showing the league’s top rated safeties from the game and let’s just say Eddie Jackson should feel a bit slighted. Jackson came in at a rating of 89, good for the NFL’s eighth-best mark for a safety.
Ahead of the 2018 All Pro, Madden has a few fellow great safeties. But, placing Jackson at eighth overall and not even over the 90 mark is an atrocity. This is not one of those arguments based on an elite season a few years ago. This is here and now. In 2018, Jackson gave the NFL world one of the best seasons they have ever seen from a safety.
The dip in production from 2018 and 2019 didn’t come from Jackson being a worse player. It came because Ha Ha Clinton-Dix took over the free safety spot, thrusting Jackson into the strong safety position. There, Jackson didn’t pick off as many passes or come up with as many deflections.
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However, he improved his numbers in terms of overall tackles as well as tackles for loss.
Let’s look at a couple of guys ahead of Jackson, just for comparison. Derwin James notched an 89, but was ahead of Jackson in the ratings as the league’s seventh-best safety. James is a phenomenal talent, but in 2019, he played in just five games and allowed a passer rating of 103.3.
For perspective, Jackson allowed a passer rating of 57.6.
Kevin Byard came in at no. 5 overall, and he gave up a passer rating of 69.1.
These are just a few grumbling points, but to have Jackson under 90 overall and barely inside the top 10 is a complete joke.
The other big miss by Madden was with pass rusher Robert Quinn, who they gave a measly 82. Essentially, Madden is calling Quinn an above average player, but nothing special.
We have hammered this point recently, but Quinn was third in the entire NFL with in quarterback disruption rate. That means he was more productive in terms of sacks, hurries and pressures, overall, than all but just two players in football.
All of the ratings have yet to be released, but at this moment, Bears fans can only laugh at a couple of them. I suppose those in-season adjustments will come as soon as this Chicago defense has the entire league frightened once again in 2020.