We take a closer look and divvy up our thoughts on Cody’s latest appearance on the “Today Show.”
I hate throwing salt on old wounds. After some time to reflect on the season as a whole, and of course Cody Parkey’s notorious “double doink” kick, I feel that the incident as a whole has been overblown. This is, in the end, a game. Life will happen and it sucks.
With that said, the embattled Chicago Bears’ kicker did what I previously thought was unthinkable. He elected to appear on national television with the “Today Show.” If you wish to watch his full interview, you may click on this link, and see the appearance for yourself.
How did Matt Nagy, Ryan Pace, and others take to this event? Not too kindly.
In case you have been living under a rock, much has been said about the overall unhappiness in the tone from Halas Hall. Matt Nagy in particular was visibly annoyed with the entire stunt pulled by Parkey. When both Pace and Nagy were asked for their opinions on the “Today Show” interview, Nagy chimed in with this statement.
“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.” (Matt Nagy; Head Coach, Chicago Bears)
Ryan Pace added that the Bears will be looking to improve their Kicker position during the offseason. He wasn’t kidding, as they’ve already signed a new Kicker in Redford Jones. This comes after they held tryouts/workouts at their team facilities. And, I won’t be surprised if they add at least one more kicker to the mix, before cutting Cody Parkey.
I certainly have my own views on this matter. Additionally, some of our fellow writers here on WCG submitted their own thoughts for this topic. I asked everyone the following questions.
- What are your overall and personal thoughts about Cody Parkey’s appearance on the Today Show, in terms of the message(s) he delivered and the manner of which he conducted himself?
- Do you, personally, believe Parkey’s media tour was selfish? If so, or if not, why?
- Based on question 2, do you share the same thoughts that Ryan Pace and Matt Nagy presented during their press conference?
First, we’ll start with question #1.
“What are your overall and personal thoughts about Cody Parkey’s appearance on the Today Show, in terms of the message(s) he delivered and the manner of which he conducted himself?”
ECD (myself):
I totally understand why Cody decided to take to national television. I really do, considering his entire family was threatened and attacked by swarms of fans on social media. I have nothing wrong with a person standing up for themselves and their family.
What I do have a problem with, is how Parkey presented the message, in addition to how he proceeded to carry out this interview.
This just wasn’t a smart move on Parkey’s part. Not only did he piss off his coach and the front office, he inadvertently tossed a torch on the lone wooden bridge connecting the player with the team. His already slim chances of staying with the Bears went up with flames after this decision.
Will Robinson (WhiskeyRanger):
First, let me preface this by saying that I didn’t watch it. The wounds were still too fresh, so I just shook my head and watched Twitter react instead. Besides, I don’t even know when the Today Show is on, or even what channel lol. Not something I’ve ever watched.
But, my personal thoughts are that he probably should have just kept his head down for a while (read: this entire off-season). Turning off all emotion, I’ll say this. It probably wasn’t the smartest business move on his part, from a PR standpoint.
The smart business move would have been to stay quiet, kick a few hundred balls a day every day, and let THAT news be what people hear about you this off-season. End of the day, it’s his life, and I don’t begrudge him doing interviews if that’s what he wants to do, but doing it SO soon was probably never going to do anything but rub people the wrong way. Unless he was announcing his retirement lol.
Ken Mitchell (a man of few words):
A totally selfish, self-serving act by a me-first player who should be fired, today. Don’t wait, fire him today.
Sam Householder:
I didn’t watch either. I started the clip but then I almost like blacked out, sort of like a weird mental block as soon as they started talking about the missed kick. It was still too fresh and now I just don’t care enough to watch.
That said, I mean, fine, if the message was supposed to be ‘hey online harassment and threats hurt people because we’re real people’ fine, maybe someone watched it and thought ‘wow, I won’t be tweeting at the guy that messes up that I hope his children die anymore, I’ll just drink to sleep.’
But it seemed like the message was more about how he carried himself following the loss. Which, all right, I guess, but to me the whole thing seemed pointless, like all right, you’re holding your head high but you still kind of suck at your job. So why not just lay low and silently practice away and then show you’ve moved on next year by kicking better?
Lester A. Wiltfong Jr.:
Honestly, I never watched the whole thing. I caught a few snippets on social media, but I thought it was poor timing as the “wound” was still fresh. He made a choice to do something he had to know would be ridiculed, and now he’ll have to deal with the consequences.
Robert Schmitz:
I thought it was an obviously selfish act to appear on the Today Show, but I never “blamed” him for doing it. The NFL is a business, so I struggle to be upset at a player marketing himself after the biggest miss of his life. He came across quite cordial throughout the segment while doing his best to suggest that the double-doink was more a “gosh-darned bad break” than a poor kick. Obviously I disagree with him, but he’s allowed to do it.
“Do you, personally, believe Parkey’s media tour was selfish? If so, or if not, why?”
Myself:
Yes. No matter how hard I tried to listen and watch this entire interview objectively, all I kept hearing in my own head was, “me. me. I. me.” He owned up to his performance in the locker room minutes after the playoff game had ended. That was perfect and well done by itself.
Why on Earth did he think it was necessary to go beyond the post game interview? I can’t help but feel he did this as a move to boost his own self confidence, and not to remedy the situation in-house. His teammates supported him, and have his back. Just leave it there!
He felt bad about the kick, even though technically it is now a “blocked” kick, I understand that. The timing of the interview in combination with Nagy and Pace’s reaction to the matter suggests the notion Parkey went about this situation on his own. Big mistake.
Will:
Again, I didn’t watch it, but yeah. I’d probably say it was selfish. I’d also say it was probably misguided, since I don’t believe it was ultimately self serving in the end.
I’m sure he wanted to get out in front of the bad press, and do some damage control by humanizing himself. He likely wanted everyone to see that he’s a person, not just a number. Make it more difficult for people to hate him.
Unfortunately, it instead came off to most as a selfish move for a player who both had an inconsistent year, and came up short (or rather, low) on the most important play of the season. The whole thing, was just ill-advised.
Ken:
Absolutely it was selfish. 100 percent me-first.
Sam:
I do because it’s making it about himself, putting himself out in front to say ‘hey I screwed up but I’m not letting myself get down over it.’ Which is fine, but why even make yourself the face of it? The whole thing just confuses me as far as what he set out to accomplish. It came off selfish even if he didn’t mean it to be.
Lester:
I don’t think he meant anything in a selfish manner, but that’s the perception. Someone should have advised him not to do it, or at the very least, to wait a while. Bears brass wasn’t happy with it, and I can’t imagine his teammates were very pleased either.
Robert S.:
Yes I do. I think so primarily because he came across like a kid who’d broken a window and had since made it especially clear “how badly he felt about it”. I don’t really think any of his teammates or fans cared about how badly he felt, they just wanted him to make the kick. After the miss, I think they just wanted to move on. Publicly dwelling on it like he did makes me feel like he was directly talking to everyone but Bears fans. About himself. So, selfish.
Based on question 2, do you share the same thoughts that Ryan Pace and Matt Nagy presented during their press conference?
Myself:
Again, yes.
First and foremost, it’s never a wise decision to pull such a publicity stunt without running the plans up to your management for guidance. Matt Nagy’s comments suggests Parkey took matters into his own hands, brashly if I may add, and didn’t take steps to see if the interview was permissible with the powers at be. You’re just begging for problems when you skip steps to address what you feel is a crisis.
It’s no longer a secret, if it ever was one to begin with. The Chicago Bears weren’t happy with Cody Parkey’s production from the start. And now, they’re incensed with his approach to the matter. Cody is a good man, I will give him that credit. You also can’t keep a player after this misstep. It’s simply too egregious to ignore.
Will:
Sure. Basically what was said in their presser was that it was more of a “Me” moment, and the team prefers “We” moments. I can get behind that. There’s nothing wrong with doing things that serve one’s self, so long as they don’t take away from the team.
I don’t see anyway Parkey’s interview helped this team. Then again, I don’t see how it helped him either, even though that was likely the motivation.
Again, the proper move both for Parkey and for the team would have been to keep his head down, put in a bunch of hard work to get better, and let news of that be what people heard about him this off-season. That would have been a positive story both for Parkey, and the Bears. Had that been the case, he probably would have stood a decent chance of being with the team in 2019. Now, it’s a long-shot.
Ken:
No, I don’t. I believe they should have come right out and said “we have notified Cody that his employment with the Chicago Bears is being terminated.” Period.
Sam:
Definitely.
It didn’t seem like a ‘we’ thing, which, as cheesy and cliche as they may sound, summed it up perfectly. Instead of standing by his teammates, who went out of their way to stand behind him all year long, he went rogue to talk to a morning show to be the ‘Most Honorable Player’ or whatever crap they said. That’s some B.S.
Lester:
Nagy and Pace sure seemed annoyed to me in their presser. I think they said the right things, and I think they’ll follow through on the competition angle. I wouldn’t be surprised if they kept him until someone (UDFAs, scrap heap FAs) beat him out in camp. But if they sign another veteran free agent (like Robbie Gould), I think he’ll be immediately cut.
Robert S.:
Given that they came across pretty angry, I don’t quite share their viewpoint. I don’t think I can.
Pace and Nagy stuck their necks out for this guy, one signing him to a multi-year contract and the other sticking with him after an especially bad run of kicking, and Parkey rewarded that faith by going behind their backs.
Put it this way, Parkey’s actions didn’t reflect an immense amount of respect for his relationships with the two men. Ultimately, I think the entire ordeal simply makes him easier to cut.
What are y’all’s thoughts on Cody’s appearance on the “Today Show?”
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