We Simulated Super Bowl LI, And It Could Be The Most Exciting Championship Ever


We made it! The 2016-17 NFL Playoffs kicked off on January 7th and here we are, almost a month later, just days before Super Bowl LI between the New England Patriots and Atlanta Falcons.

If you’ve been following our NFL Playoff coverage, you’re already aware of the series of Madden 17 simulations we’ve been running as a fun predictor for what to expect heading into each and every playoff game this postseason. We started with a simulation of the entire playoffs, then ran each round individually, starting with the Divisional Round, the Championship Round, and now, finally, Super Bowl LI.

We’re even including the footage from our Madden 17 Super Bowl LI simulation in it’s entirety this round, so if you have an hour to kill, scroll down to the bottom of this page with your eyes closed to avoid spoilers. If you’re the kind of person with things to do, we’ve got plenty of highlights for you, too. Let’s do this.

Super Bowl LI – New England Patriots vs. Atlanta Falcons

1st Quarter

The virtual Atlanta Falcons jumped out of the gate firing on all cylinders. Matt Ryan tossed a 74-yard bomb to Julio Jones’ on the very first possession of Super Bowl LI.

The Falcons’ hot start didn’t end there. They held the Patriots scoreless in the first quarter, and managed to add another touchdown after Tevin Coleman followed up a huge 42-yard rush by Devonta Freeman with a 8-yard touchdown run of his own. All Falcons early.

Score: Falcons 14, Patriots 0

2nd Quarter

The Patriots didn’t have a whole lot going on in the second quarter, either, but a quick 52-yard strike to Julian Edelman followed by a 5-yard touchdown grab by Malcolm Mitchell salvaged what was a bad first half by New England. They tacked on a field goal, and their defense kept the Falcons offense at bay long enough to bring the Patriots to within 7 at the half despite a dominating Atlanta Falcons performance.

Score: Falcons 17, Patriots 10

3rd Quarter

The Patriots managed to tie this game up in the third quarter thanks to a picture-perfect end zone fade from Tom Brady to Martellus Bennett. The end zone fade works approximately once out of every four thousand attempts, but luckily for the virtual New England Patriots, it worked in the third quarter of Super Bowl LI. Bennett’s third quarter heroics started a series of events that would result in a truly incredible 4th quarter with the game tied at 17. Buckle up!


Score: Falcons 17, Patriots 17

4th Quarter

The Patriots opened the 4th quarter with a long 56-yard Stephen Gostkowski field goal to give New England their first lead of Super Bowl LI. In truly deflating fashion, the Atlanta Falcons stopped the Patriots’ comeback dead in its tracks with a gigantic 69-yard (obligatory nice) Matt Ryan touchdown pass to Mohamed Sanu.

The Falcons held on to their 24-20 lead for most of the 4th quarter until LeGarrette Blount broke through with an 18-yard touchdown run to give the Patriots a 27-24 lead with just three minutes remaining.

All hell proceeded to break loose from there.

Relatively unknown Patriots corner back Eric Rowe pulled off a Malcolm Butler-esque interception and brought it all the way back for 6, making it 34-24 Patriots.

And just when it looked like Matt Ryan and the Atlanta Falcons were falling apart, Ryan threw a series of bombs to Julio Jones and Taylor Gabriel, marching the Falcons down the field culminating in a 17-yard touchdown pass to Gabriel.

With three timeouts remaining, the Falcons elected to kick the ball off to the Patriots instead of attempting an onside kick, and their gamble paid off. They got the stop they needed, and before you knew it, Ryan had the Falcons in scoring position with a chance to tie this game up and send it to overtime at the very least. And then, well, I’ll just let you watch the footage and see for yourself.

Game over.

Final Score: New England Patriots 34, Atlanta Falcons 31

Much to the dismay of America, Madden 17 is predicting a 34-31 Super Bowl LI win for the New England Patriots. This would mark the fifth Super Bowl win for the Tom Brady-Bill Belichick era Patriots, and if I can offer any silver lining to non-Patriots fans, at least you’ll get to witness the highly anticipated Roger Goodell vs. New England Patriots podium showdown. Regardless of how dumb you think the Patriots’ rivalry with Roger Goodell might be, it’s going to be a moment.

Congratulations! You’ve reached the bottom of this post. As promised, here is our Madden 17 simulation of Super Bowl LI in its entirety.

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