If you haven't heard or seen it already, Sunday night's NFL Wild Card playoff game with the Philadelphia Eagles and the Chicago Bears did not end well for the blue and orange. The Bears were trailing by one point and Mitch Trubisky, Chicago's quarterback, led his team down into Eagles territory with ten seconds left in the fourth quarter. Cody Parkey, the kicker, was then let onto the field to kick the game-winning 43-yard field goal. He kicked, Philly called a timeout to "ice the kicker," and the ball made it through but didn't count. The second attempt comes, he kicks it and the ball bounces off the left upright, the crossbar and ended up not going in. It's now infamously known as the "double doink."
Soldier Field was filled with boo's and yelling while Parkey jogged off the field. Bears fans and football fans did not hesitate to share their opinions on the game all over Twitter and Facebook. Parkey and his family were receiving death threats as well as people making videos cussing him out.
At first, it appears Parkey missed the field goal but social media was not slow to point out that Treyvon Hester of the Eagles actually tipped Parkey's kick, causing him to miss the field goal. Later, the NFL ended up ruling the missed field goal as a blocked one instead. Although Parkey may have not made the most important field goal of the game, he did make the three other field goals that gave the Bears nine points. He scored more points than the Bears offense who only scored six.
Cody Parkey stated to the press, "You can't make this up. I feel terrible. I let the team down. It's on me." And he also said he "can't wait to go home to his wife and his dog because they don't care what happened today." Cody is human like we all are and we all make mistakes whether we admit them or not. Imagine yourself at your job, screwing up in front of millions of people on national television and then feeling like the whole world hates you. It definitely would not feel good. I understand that it is his job to kick and score points, but when the ball ends up being tipped, that's not Parkey's fault at all. If we're going to blame anyone, blame the Bears offense for not finishing their drives.
As a Packers fan, I should be ecstatic that the Bears lost, and don't get me wrong, I am. I cheered when he missed it, but as the boo's filled the stadium, I truly felt bad for the guy. From one sports fan to another, it truly does suck when your team loses, especially in an elimination game. But, every player out there on the field and the court is only human and when they do something wrong, don't forget all the things they have done right.
