Blue Had a Madden Dream, Too.
A photo has surfaced of Blue, the Indianapolis Colts mascot, pitching himself as the Madden NFL 27 cover athlete. He was told the deal was close. It was not close. Caleb Williams got the cover. Blue got the Chicago skyline.
INDIANAPOLIS — A photograph has surfaced of Blue, the Indianapolis Colts mascot, floating above the Chicago skyline in his signature thrust pose, a proposed Madden NFL 27 cover. Blue sent the photograph to EA Sports. He did this in January.
The talks that followed were described by Blue as “basically a done deal.” EA Sports has described them as “exploratory.”
Caleb Williams was announced as the actual cover athlete on June 3rd — the first Chicago Bears quarterback ever to receive the honor. He called it a childhood dream. His jump pose was an homage to Michael Jordan. Behind him: the Chicago skyline.
Blue had also included the Chicago skyline. He has always wanted a reason to do his iconic thrust toward the Sears Tower. Madden, he felt, was finally that reason.
Sources close to Blue say he had been preparing remarks for the moment someone asked what it meant to be the first mascot on a Madden cover. He had an answer. He had worked on the answer. The answer was specific and, by multiple accounts, quite moving.
