Madden 20 simulation: Chiefs should dominate Bengals in preseason opener

The first Madden 20 simulation has been made for the Kansas City Chiefs season and the digital team looked great against the Cincinnati Bengals.

The NFL season is officially here and that means plenty of predictions for the coming year.

Here at Arrowhead Addict, I will be running a simulation each week on Madden 20 of the particular Kansas City Chiefs matchup and will be reporting the data that I find. Each week will have a quick snapshot of the sim as well as a Player of the Game as well as the Biggest Surprise.

For this simulation, Madden 20 allowed for a preseason sim which will automatically adjust the depth chart throughout the game to allow for a diverse and more accurate simulation of what we would see in a real preseason game—like the one ready to unfold on Saturday night.

If there is an aspect you would like to see added or adjusted to the simulation, let me know in the comments. For now, let’s get to Week 1 of the preseason at Arrowhead Stadium as the Chiefs host the visiting Cincinnati Bengals.

Sim Rundown

Arrowhead Stadium under the lights is always a hostile environment, and this night was no different. The sold-out house was ready to see the Kansas City Chiefs take the field led by reigning NFL MVP quarterback Patrick Mahomes.

The Chiefs won the toss and deferred, which meant the revamped defense of Steve Spagnuolo took the field first. Andy Dalton on the first play from scrimmage dropped back and threw an interception to rookie Juan Thornhill, whose impact has been seen often in Chiefs training camp. This interception set up a goal-line situation for Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs offense. Running back Damien Williams carried the ball for a small gain, but on the second play, Patrick Mahomes found Damien Williams in the end zone for the first score of the night.

On the next Bengals possession, the Chiefs smothered running back Joe Mixon, and the coverage did not give quarterback Andy Dalton much to work with. This possession was highlighted by the first sack of the night and that was by Chiefs rookie Khalen Saunders, who has also received high praise from his coaching staff at training camp.

The Chiefs starting defense stayed on the field for one quarter, and it was a dominating quarter overall. The Bengals starters could not get anything going against the revamped Chiefs defense who only allowed 16 total yards offensively and recorded 3 sacks and an interception. This production is night and day difference compared to the defense that was on the field in 2018.

The Chiefs offense looked in mid-season form already when their night ended after the first quarter. Mahomes showed his accuracy as well as his ability to spread the ball around. Throughout camp, all we have been hearing about is the Mahomes-Hill connection, so it is no surprise that Tyreek Hill was Mahomes number one target, hauling in three passes for 30 yards.

Tight end Travis Kelce and rookie Mecole Hardman also caught passes from Mahomes, who finished the sim with 9 of 12 completions for 68 yards and a touchdown. Damien Williams showed us why the Chiefs were smart for extending him with 11 carries for 48 yards and a touchdown. He looked like a lead back going forward.

Chad Henne would finish out the game and showed that he will be a dependable backup to Patrick Mahomes, Henne was efficient and showed why he has been a veteran in this league for a long time as he finished the night with 13 of 22 completions for 146 yds and 2 touchdowns. Hardman had 6 receptions for 60 yards and a touchdown on the night, including a 23-yard pass from Henne, the longest in the game.

The Chiefs second and third-string defenses did very well and showed in the fourth quarter that they are not going to take their foot off the gas. With 3 minutes to go the Bengals were on the Chiefs three-yard line, and they were not able to penetrate the defense for the score. The Bengals tried to go for it on fourth down and cornerback Tremon Smith successfully broke up the pass in the end zone.

The Chiefs would end up winning this simulation by a final score of 34-16.

Game Ball

This was a hard choice because there were so many this week to choose from. The rookies all played exceptionally well in their first game, and of course quarterback, Patrick Mahomes is always amazing. However, I am going to have to give this game ball to running back Damien Williams.

Going into the 2019 season, Williams was named the starter, and some people questioned if he would be able to repeat the same success that he showed at the end of the 2018 season. In one quarter of play, Williams showed that he can be an every-down back that the Chiefs can count on.

Williams carried the ball 11 times for 48 yards and ran for one touchdown, and he also caught 2 passes for 6 yards and another touchdown. That is for only one quarter of play. If he could keep that efficiency up for an entire game, this may be the change of scenery that Williams was looking for when he left Miami.

Biggest Surprise

This was a no brainer. With all of the defensive changes that happened in the offseason, Chiefs Kingdom was salivating to see what the defense would look like going into the 2019 season, and the defense did not disappoint. They held the Bengals starting offense to a mere 16 yards, a far cry from the defense gave up an average of 26 points a game last year.

The rookies stepped up in significant ways with Thornhill recording his first of hopefully many interceptions of 2019. Saunders also showed that he will be a reliable member of an already strong defensive line rotation.

This prediction seems like it will hold true. The Chiefs defense will be good, but we will see if it will be as good as the simulation predicts. I also think that Mahomes and company will be better than the sim suggests. What do you think? Let us know in the comments.