David Banks/Associated Press
The Nick Foles magic continues.
Foles led the Philadelphia Eagles to a 16-15 victory over the Chicago Bears in Sunday’s NFC Wild Card Game at Soldier Field, keeping the defending champions alive for at least another week even in Carson Wentz’s absence in the most dramatic fashion. He found Golden Tate for a touchdown on 4th-and-goal with less than a minute remaining, putting the visitors ahead for good.
It looked as if the Bears would still come away with a win when Mitchell Trubisky, who was 26-of-43 for 303 yards and a touchdown, directed them into field-goal range, but Cody Parkey missed the potential game-winner off the post and upright.
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FOLES. TATE. SIX points for the @Eagles.
: #PHIvsCHI on NBC #NFLPlayoffs https://t.co/3aX8NEpche
Bears Front Office Gets What it Deserves for Hanging On to Parkey
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Cody Parkey’s would-be game-winning FG hits the crossbar twice sending the Eagles to the Divisional Round. #PHIvsCHI #NFLPlayoffs https://t.co/mchSudQfLL
Ask any Bears fan, they will tell you. Parkey was a major concern all season, and it’s only fitting he cost the team a playoff game to end what was a promising campaign.
While he made a head-turning 91.3 percent of his field goals last season for the Miami Dolphins, he dropped to 76.7 percent in 2018. He also missed three extra points and drew the ire of Chicago when he clanked four kicks off the uprights in a November win over the Detroit Lions, making it all the more appropriate he drilled one again Sunday.
It was such a story that it made headlines when he thought it was a good idea to practice at Soldier Field in the elements by Lake Michigan rather than the Bears practice facility well outside downtown Chicago.
In a league that rarely ever hesitates to move on from kickers during high-profile struggles, the Bears front office stuck with theirs even though it was clear by late November this was a playoff team that would be performing in pressure-packed situations. It came back to bite them at the most inopportune time and cost them the season.
Making it all the more difficult for Chicago fans to swallow is the fact that the front office moved on from franchise legend Robbie Gould prior to the 2016 season.
Gould connected on 85.4 percent of his field goals and 99 percent of his extra points from 2005 through 2015 while playing for the Bears, and Jeff Dickerson of ESPN.com noted he “used to routinely travel to Soldier Field during the regular season to practice kicking in the Chicago lakefront’s unpredictable winds.”
He is still kicking for the San Francisco 49ers and drilled 97.1 percent of his field goals during the 2018 campaign.
Gould likely would have made the game-winning field goal Sunday. Parkey did not.
What’s Next?
The Eagles turn their attention toward next Sunday’s NFC Divisional Round showdown at the New Orleans Saints. Philadelphia lost at the Mercedes-Benz Superdome 48-7 in Week 11, although that was with Wentz under center instead of Foles.
This article will be updated to provide more information soon.
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