It wasn’t supposed to happen. And if it was meant to happen, it wasn’t supposed to go down like that.
On what would have been a 43-yard field goal that would have won the game and would have sent the Chicago Bears into the divisional round, Cody Parkey hit the left upright … and the crossbar.
Doink. Doink. A horrifying echo of itself, punctuating the season.
Cody Parkey's would-be game-winning FG hits the crossbar twice sending the Eagles to the Divisional Round. #PHIvsCHI #NFLPlayoffs pic.twitter.com/mchSudQfLL
— NFL (@NFL) January 7, 2019
One moment. One football. One upright. One crossbar. One miss. And the season is over.
That the miss came after Parkey nailed a kick as Eagles Head Coach Doug Pederson called an icing timeout is the kind of cosmic evil I’m not sure Bears fans deserved. But it happened.
It’s a kick to the nether regions and a bitter ending to what was mostly a sweet ride. The Bears exceeded all preseason expectations. They won 12 games, went 5-1 against an NFC North that featured two preseason Super Bowl favorites, won that NFC North, and played their way into a home playoff game. As far as I’m concerned, the ending didn’t present a true snapshot of the season that just happened.
But it still hurts so badly.
The pain. pic.twitter.com/wq8MptsPFa
— Bleacher Nation Bears (@BN_Bears) January 7, 2019
We’ll have more words tomorrow and in the coming days. But for now, the sound of a season ending will have to do.
Brett Taylor contributed to this post.