For the first time since the season ended on that cold night at Soldier Field, Chicago Bears head coach Matt Nagy and GM Ryan Pace took their place before the media to answer questions about the upcoming offseason. Inevitably many of them started with the most obvious of all. What do they plan to do about Cody Parkey?
It’s a fair question. The kicker still has a hefty contract on the books that makes simply cutting ties a bit of a headache. Still, he missed 11 field goals in 2018. Two of which cost them wins including the clanger in the wild card round against Philadelphia. Nobody in their right mind would keep a player that unreliable, right?
Now Pace isn’t the sort of man to commit to anything in front of the media. He tends to make his big decisions behind closed doors. That’s fair. However, it was apparent from the start of the press conference that the man had a clear agenda for the 2019 offseason. Much of it would center on likely seeking out Parkey’s replacement.
Ryan Pace, asked about Cody Parkey’s Bears future and his appearance on the Today Show:
“That position is an emphasis for us. We understand that we need to get better."
— Andrew Siciliano (@AndrewSiciliano) January 14, 2019
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Pace and Nagy seemed especially unhappy about Cody Parkey TV stunt
Parkey was in hot water for obvious reasons already. Even so, it seemed like his teammates were ready to back him up after the loss despite his struggles. That is until he made the exceedingly curious decision to appear on The Today Show to talk about what happened. Based on the reaction from Nagy, the Bears brass was not happy about it.
“We always talk about a ‘we’ and not a ‘me’ thing. We win as a team and we lose as a team. I didn’t necessarily think it was a ‘we’ thing.”
One thing about the Bears locker room is they are a group built around a family atmosphere and hard work. Nothing about Parkey has stood out in either of those regards. He can’t be bothered to travel to Soldier Field to practice kicks during the week and he goes out of his way to try repairing his image with a spotlight grab on television.
That sends the absolute wrong message to the guys who had his back all season long. So yeah, the odds aren’t favorable that he’ll be back for a second season in Chicago.
