Double doink artist Cody Parkey joined Today on Friday to talk about moving forward with his life and his career after costing his team a playoff win in the most devastating possible way. Parkey held his head high, telling the hosts he wasn’t completely gutted by the double doink because “football’s what I do, it’s not who I am.” The Today crew named Parkey the “Most Honorable Player” for having the guts to show up after his brutal failure.
Not only did Parkey’s TV appearance not sit well with members of the Chicago media, his own coach called him out for it. Matt Nagy and GM Ryan Pace held an end-of-season press conference today, where Pace ominously said of the kicker position, “We need to get better there, it’s an area of focus,” before later affirming that the team will bring in competition for Parkey’s job this offseason. Nagy said that Parkey didn’t bring up his forthcoming Today appearance in their exit interview, and he was plainly unhappy with Parkey for doing so, calling it a “We and not a me thing.” He continued, “We always talk as a team, we win as a team and lose as a team. I didn’t necessarily think that was too much of a we thing.”