Chicago Bears fans already went through a nightmare with the Cody Parkey double-doink of a kick that handed the Philadelphia Eagles a playoff victory back in January.
Since then, the nightmare has been recurring, right through the offseason and straight into Week 8, when Eddy Pinero missed a 41-yarder against the Los Angeles Chargers, a would-be-game-winner that sailed wide left. Sure, everyone’s questioning head coach Matt Nagy about why he knelt to run down the clock instead of trying to advance the football to give Pinero a closer kick.
But maybe there’s a curse or hex or something to blame here? Let’s look back on what’s happened at the kicker position for the last 10 months:
1. The Double Doink
Sorry, Bears fans, but I have to show it again:
2. The Bears signed a kicker named Blewitt
Chris Blewitt was signed in March and fans had jokes.
3. Time for tryouts!
Two months after cutting Parkey in March, Nagy and the Bears got nine (!) kickers to try out at minicamp and had them attempt the same 43-yarder Parkey tried in the loss to the Eagles. Only two of them nailed it.
4. The Bears put the pressure on
Per an ESPN story:
Bears special-teams coordinator Chris Tabor explained on Wednesday that he and head coach Matt Nagy lifted a page from the Masters’ playbook and operate under the code of “Augusta silence” whenever a field goal is called for during team drills at OTAs.
The three remaining kickers — Blewitt, Pineiro and Elliott Fry — tried the Parkey kick once again. And?
Blewitt was cut.
5. Details emerged about how Nagy had put his kickers through the ringer
A Sports Illustrated story shed light on the process from the summer, which included a scoring system posted outside the locker room for the kickers to see how they were doing.
6. Pineiro badly missed a kick in the preseason
7. Parkey doinked a kick after he was signed by the Titans
This has nothing to do with the Bears, but maybe it’ll make everyone feel a little better?
8. Pineiro missed the game-winner in Week 8
Where do the Bears go from here? Stay tuned.
