Most people are blaming Cody Parkey’s missed field-goal attempt for the bears losing the game. Yes, had he made the kick, the bears win. However, let’s look at all of the other plays that impacted the outcome and that should also be discussed.
- The bears punted into the endzone, which would have given the ball to the Eagles at their 20. The Eagles were offsides, resulting in a re-kick which went out of bounds at the 1, and resulted in a punt to the Eagle 48. No excuse for being offsides.
- The bears were going to punt, but an unnecessary roughness call when an Eagle player retaliated with a shove, gave the bears a first down and resulted in a field goal–3 gift points.
- All game, the Eagles ran up the middle for little or no gain, hurting their offensive production.
- With 13 seconds left in the half, an Eagle defensive back dropped an easy interception in the endzone, and the bears got a field goal. 3 more gift points, for a 6-3 bear halftime lead.
- With the lead at the end of the game, the Eagles kicked off to Tarik Cohen, an All-Pro returner, instead of deep or out of the endzone for a touchback. Cohen had a long return, setting up what would have been the game-winning field goal had the kick been good. Why open yourself to a big play, especially when there is little time left, when you don’t have to?