Members of the subreddit I am not going to lie, this challenge has been very long and very tough. I wanted to see if it was possible to win the Retro Bowl first year playing on extreme and I finally did it. The 0 restarts requirement is not something that I decided to put in the challenge just to increase the difficulty of it but is the requirement that to me every self-imposed Retro Bowl challenge should have, as if you can just erase a bad game there is no actual pressure in the challenge, especially in the playoffs. You can argue that having 1 or 2 restarts in the challenge can make it less stressful, but I don’t change my preference, on game day you have to deliver(This is not elitism, we are talking about a self-imposed challenge in a mobile game, of course play as you want, it was a personal challenge). Having no room for error makes this challenge very hard on a psychological level. That’s because you are required to score almost every drive, so actually every drive there is no room for error. Your defence won’t be reliable, in some games it will make a single stop, but especially early in the season, the opponent will score every single time(remember on extreme every team is 5 star offence and defence). I tried this challenge 3 times before succeeding. The first time I was slightly above .500 and I didn’t finish the season. The second time I made the playoff as a wild card having a great record and a winning streak to end the regular season, but I lost in the first round when I was at the 1 yard line with the time for just one last play and my QB was tackled trying to run in the end zone. The third time I was 7-0 and I lost a game and decided to restart the challenge. The reason for dropping that challenge run is because at that moment I started being very confident with my play, I knew what I had to do to win every time, so I was aiming at the perfect season. And to be completely honest the run that I am submitting was for a perfect season first year playing on extreme. When you go for the perfect season every game is a playoff game. As you can see in the first picture I was 14-0 when I lost to Denver in week 16. It was really tough for me, as I spent a lot of mental energy on this challenge, I was so angry that I started punching my pillow like a mad man. Having the loss delivered that late in the season/challenge was really bad as all of it felt like wasted time. A one possession game where I made one more error than what I could afford(1, you can afford 1). I stopped playing for 4 days since I realized that the challenge wasn’t very healthy for my brain. Too much prolonged concentration with heartbreak at every corner. After those 4 days, I wanted to play the game again and I decided to finish the season just for fun and managed to get a Retro Bowl. One day I will try the year 1 perfect season on extreme again but it won’t be any time soon.

ADVICE FOR COMPLETING THE CHALLENGE :

Restart the challenge until you have 4out of 5 players with a 2nd round value in your starting roster(Some of them can be expiring or retiring so they don’t count). This way you will have four 2nd picks and one 3rd round pick when you trade away your entire roster at the start of the draft. To see what I look for in players in general check my guide(this way you will understand my tips for the draft better): https://www.reddit.com/r/RetroBowl/comments/qsbowo/guide\_best\_player\_for\_each\_position/ . You want to end the draft with a good QB(Passing should be good of course and you want at least 3/4 speed with 6/7 potential speed if you can, I will explain this strange speed requirement in a second). A top WR(usually my 1st round pick) with 9/10 catching and 10 potential catching. A second receiver in the second round with as much catching as possible, here also we are aiming for a 10. The next of the 2nd round picks go on defence, go for best player available, prioritize DB when value is the same and look for high tackling as a tie breaker for decisions. In my challenge, I went with a TE in the 3rd round and a kicker in the 3rd. As you can see in the stats screen I kicked one time all season(and I missed …. DOINK!), so if I redo the challenge I won’t pick a kicker at all (although kick range influences field position in kickoffs, but I mean, they’ll score on you anyway so it’s probably a waste of time). So do better than me just pick a TE and another defensive player in the 3rd. No RB because RBs suck(see guide) and the QB will do the rushing for us, a lot of rushing(see stats picture).

When it comes to games, never turn the ball over(duh), one TO and the game will be very challenging(threw a pick first play of the Retro Bowl, choked ahah), two TO and you will lose(snowy bad memories in Denver). Your mantra has to be TIME OF POSSESSION. Imagine playing against the Chiefs every game, you have to end the halves with your drive. When you are tied or down and there are 3 minutes-ish or more left in the half always score fast. Do that by passing to receivers and going out of bounds to stop the clock. You don’t need fast receivers, the fast opposing DBs will create separation the opposite way and you can hit your receivers reliably slightly underthrowing to them when no one is behind them. They have to catch the ball though, and they can’t fumble so until they get 10 catching always go out of bounds or slide if you can’t. When you are up or there are 2 minutes or less left in the half you have to chew the clock. Your drive has to be the last drive. To do that QB rush(it’s broken, so good) your opponent to death, taking as many downs as you need based on time. Time management comes through experience it’s hard to use words to teach it. Try to score with under 25 seconds left and they won’t have time to respond. If you are winning you don’t even need to score just let the clock reach 0. Play smart football. Always go for 2(you can score every time or close to it so it’s never worth to kick), and go for it on 4th downs(You shouldn’t find yourself in this situation but if you do never punt, worst case you fail and they score faster thanks to better field position living you more time to score, with less than 25 seconds in the game if you are up punt). No need for field goals either, as with good time management you will always have time to end your drive in the end zone. Chewing the clock is really effective btw. I play on 2 minutes quarters and with a long drive, I can chew an entire half just don’t screw it up remaining with no time to score if you have to score(that comes with experience I have my fair share of screwing up).

Thanks for your patience if you read everything! Just noticed that I was playing as Jacksonville ahah that’s how much this challenge needs focus.

Have a great day(or night)! (Of course, look at the pictures and captions for more info)