John Madden deserves a proper permanent tribute…

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The passing of legendary coach, broadcaster, and video-game mogul John Madden provides the NFL with both an opportunity and a challenge.

The NFL should find a proper permanent tribute to the most influential person in the history of the sport of football.

If you think it’s hyperbole, who had more influence than Madden? He had tremendous influence in multiple ways, arguably the least of it coming from his work as a coach. His impact in broadcasting became groundbreaking. His relevance to the NFL’s official video game will be permanent, for at least for as long as the NFL continues to exist.

So what can the NFL do? Anything named after Madden must match his relevance to the game. Given that high bar, there aren’t many viable options.

The John Madden Super Bowl. The John Madden Pro Football Hall of Fame. The John Madden MVP award. (Naming the Coach of the Year award after Madden is another possibility, but that should be saved for Bill Belichick.)

Actually, a semi-plausible case could be made for changing the name of the entire operation to the Madden Football League, or the Madden National Football League.

Whatever it is, the NFL needs to start brainstorming. And the NFL needs to settle on something as big as Madden was. As he still is, and as he will continue to be.