COVID-19 has taken jobs, school, and much more away from everyone in the world. Another major form of activity and entertainment that the virus has taken away is sports. High school seniors can’t play what could be their last season of playing a sport for the rest of their lives. Professional sports were also cut short or stopped before the seasons were started.

The lack of sports creates many problems; everyone is spending most of their time at home now, but there’s not much to do. You can always do odd jobs around the house, but it is only a matter of time until you sit down and watch TV for the whole day. When you sit down to watch TV, you flip through all the channels to see there’s absolutely no sports on. This also creates issues for many avid sports fans, especially those over 21 years old, who also bet on sports. 

Bleacher Report came up with a solution for the sports crisis by starting a Madden 20 Tournament where each team utilized their best players of all time. This tournament gave sports fans something to watch other than reruns of old games. Each game had 8 minute quarters which were streamed on Twitch. There were “gentlemen’s bets” for how many combined yards the quarterbacks of the two teams would have collectively at the end of the game. The first person to guess the exact number of yards, or got the closest, won a free sweatshirt from Bleacher Report. 

All 32 NFL teams were filled with their best players of all time. Splitting the league in half, just like the normal NFL postseason, there was an AFC and NFC bracket. The AFC finals was between the Patriots and the Steelers. The Patriots being led by arguably the best player in NFL history, Tom Brady, and the Steelers having one of the best defenses in the whole tournament. The Steelers came into the game favored to win, but the Patriots ended up winning 21-17. 

The NFC finals were between the Giants and Packers. The Giants were never picked to win any of their games while the Packers were favored in every game. The Packers ended up beating the giants 21-16. The championship game was set, Packers vs Patriots. The teams were so evenly matched that the game went to overtime tied 20-20. Brett Farve and the Packers drove down the field to the one yard line. Brett Farve under center drops back to pass, a quick pass to Jace Sternberger in the endzone, TOUCHDOWN Packers.

The Green Bay Packers were the winners of Bleacher Report’s G.O.A.T. Bowl. Jace Sternberger had this to say after his G.O.A.T. Bowl winning touchdown catch, “I think getting drafted might be the only thing that beats it.”