Bears kicker Cody Parkey is kind of a persona non grata in Chicago right now.
He’s pretty much earned the ire of the entire city after he narrowly missed a potentially game-winning field goal that would have taken the team to the next round of the playoffs. The Philadelphia Eagles ended up with a 16-15 victory. Awkward…
And let’s hear how Cody Parkey’s missed FG would sound with Doc Emrick on the call. #PHIvsCHI #Bears #DoubleDoink pic.twitter.com/UwAKCG5jlA
— Brian Brownfield (@smoothbutter95) January 7, 2019
It was later decided that Parkey was not entirely to blame, and that Trayvon Hester got a finger on the ball, leading the NFL to officially change the miss to a block. But it doesn’t really matter because Bears fans are still crazy pissed off.
Sure, it’s irritating that the Bears’ postseason got cut short, but it’s also important to remember that Cody Parkey is a professional athlete who is guaranteed millions of dollars no matter how many field goals he actually makes. And most of the rest of us are just slovenly normals who eat carbs and lounge on the couch passing judgment on a bunch of people in peak physical condition running around on a field to entertain us.
It turns out, other professional athletes are much more understanding of Parkey’s blunder. Dwyane Wade and Kobe Bryant each reached out over Twitter to defend the kicker and offer some helpful advice.
Most of you have no idea how hard this is to do. Cody Parkey way to face the media like a true professional. I’m a fan! https://t.co/xbJ5kW6pXF
— DWade (@DwyaneWade) January 7, 2019
We’ve all been here Cody but if you wanna win back the city you gotta get back in the lab and have a historic season next year to bury this one. I’m happy for my #EaglesNation but as a fellow pro athlete you gotta grind harder and double down #noexcuses #JGSD justgetsh*tdone https://t.co/icd3MQRQFg
— Kobe Bryant (@kobebryant) January 7, 2019
There we go! Cody Parkey may have angered an entire city by blowing their team’s playoff run. But, in the end it doesn’t matter because a couple basketball legends have his back and he’s still going to make at least $9 million dollars this season, which is more money than most of us can even dream of.
Cover image via Chicago Sun Times.
