Windy City Gridiron - Pride of Detroit Madden Tournament Championship Recap

The finals matchup between Patti Curl (Bears) and Robert Schmitz (Eagles) was a thrilling matchup, and in case you missed it, you can follow https://www.twitch.tv/sjs_illini or scroll to the bottom to watch a replay airing. As a reminder, the PS5 and Madden 21 were both announced earlier this month, and with this offseason (or lack thereof) dragging on, this was a fun way for us to showcase football to the Windy City Gridiron faithful and get a look at how the Bears can tear teams apart next year.

Game recap:

The Bears struck first off a turnover with a short field goal by Eddy Pineiro, and the Eagles responded by running a calculated drive, running the ball and converting short passes before converting a 3rd and 1 with a short run. This took the clock down to the end of the 1st quarter with the score 3-0 in favor of the Bears. To open the second quarter, Carson Wentz scrambled for a deep run, and with the Eagles in the red zone, the Bears defense clamped down. They sacked Wentz and held the Eagles out of the endzone, the drive ending with the Eagles settling for a equalizer field goal.

Montgomery took his first carry of the next drive for over 10 yards, and the Bears quickly crossed midfield into Eagles territory. A pitch play went backwards, and a couple other failed plays brought up 4th and 11. The Bears opted to go for it, Trubisky hooking up with Allen Robinson II for a conversion, then throwing a touchdown pass to Trey Burton on the next play. The Bears took the lead 10-3 with a bit more than 2 minutes left in the first half.

The Eagles took over, and a Khalil Mack sack followed by a zero-yardage pass to the flat made it 3rd and 15. The Eagles converted a long pass play to bring the ball into Bears territory, but Roquon Smith picked off Carson Wentz on the ensuing play to give the Bears the ball back with less than a minute left in the half. The Bears went three and out, and the Eagles didn’t have enough time to drive down to kick a field goal. Going into halftime, the Bears still led 10-3.

The Bears opened the second half by throwing an interception, and the Eagles quickly moved into Bears territory. Kyle Fuller picked off Carson Wentz right back on an ill-advised deep throw, although Fuller couldn’t get his feet down in bounds, and the Eagles kicked a field goal to make the score 10-6 in favor of the Bears. Trubisky shook off his interception with a beautiful sideline throw to Allen Robinson II for 24 yards, and a short toss play to Montgomery and a strike to Taylor Gabriel brought the Bears into striking range. The Bears offense stalled on the goalline, however, and they settled for a field goal, extending their lead back up to seven.

The Bears defense wasn’t done forcing turnovers yet, though, as Kyle Fuller snatched a bobbled ball out of the air for his second interception of the game, and the Bears took their 13-6 into the final quarter of the game. A few plays into the 4th quarter saw Tarik Cohen find a hole for his first touchdown of the game, and the Bears went up 20-6. Despite being down by two scores in the 4th quarter, the Eagles wouldn’t abandon the run, and Jordan Howard gave his former home crowd a show, picking up consecutive first downs on handoffs. Carson Wentz scrambled to the 3 yard line, and Jordan Howard took a handoff into the endzone to cut into the Bears lead to give the Eagles a fighting chance.

David Montgomery would have something to say about that chance, though, taking handoffs of his own for chunks of yardage each time, moving the ball seemingly with ease into Eagles territory. After running a few minutes of clock off, the Bears doubled-down with a Montgomery touchdown run to make the score 27-13.

With less than two minutes left in the game, the Eagles took over again, down two scores and without much hope. Wentz completed a few passes to get the ball down inside the Bears’ 10 yard line, and but after taking their third timeout to stop the clock with the clock running out, a Khalil Mack sack ended the game in fitting fashion. The Bears took the win, 27-13 over the Eagles.

Wentz ended the game with 0 touchdowns to 3 interceptions, as the Bears defense proved again how tough it is to throw the ball at Solider Field. Alshon Jeffrey caught 8 passes for 131 yards. Fletcher Cox and Khalil Mack had 3 sacks apiece.

There you have it, our champion is none other than Windy City Gridiron’s own PATTI CURL. Congratulations, it was well-deserved and I am happy to say that the team of choice in all matchups was your favorite team, the Chicago Bears.

Leave a comment to congratulate Patti!

Bear Down, and be well.