Windy City Gridiron Madden Stream: Beginning the Offseason

When starting up the stream (for any game I do, actually), my first thoughts are usually centered on "Where do we start?" without bogging everything down. With our Madden stream, since we're starting off a new offline franchise together, it became apparent to me that we shouldn't just start with this year, but should instead push forward a year.

Things got really interesting, really quick.

Right away, I set progression to automatic. Roster moves are not automatic, though they're simulated if we just press forward a week. This leads to things such as J'Marcus Webb remaining a Bear (at an 84 overall, no less), along with Tom Zbikowski, Kelvin Hayden, Harvey Unga, and Sedrick Ellis, among others. It gets better/worse, depending on your point of view.

When we start off tonight, we'll have Robbie Gould, Jay Cutler, and Tim Jennings, all of whom have signed contract extensions with the Bears, rejecting offers to stay in Chicago, which leaves us with signing Charles Tillman for another year.

Looks like we've got some really, really interesting decisions to make.

Tonight it's just me, myself and I, and we'll go for a couple of hours or as long as it takes us to finish up the offseason festivities, including the draft. If we're lucky, we'll actually get some preseason football in. Of course, comments, suggestions, and criticisms can always be left here in the comments, over on my Twitch channel at http://twitch.tv/sjs_illini, or on my Twitter at @SJS_illini.

UPDATE: The edited-in video is broken into three parts - the other two will play in a playlist.