Cody Parkey had one of the worst Sundays imaginable for a professional place kicker. He drilled what would have been a game-winning 43-yard-field goal in the NFC Wild Card showdown between the Chicago Bears and Philadelphia Eagles.
But Eagles coach Doug Pederson called timeout before the snap, which meant Parkey had to do it again. He did not. The kick hit about as many things as possible, but not the back netting keeping the ball from hitting the crowd behind the uprights. Parkey’s kick was tipped by an Eagles special teams player, then hit both the left upright and crossbar yet didn’t go through the uprights.
It was a devastating moment for Parkey and put a swift end to Chicago’s title hopes. And Eagles fans, saved from their own early postseason exit, made the most of their chance to troll someone on one of the worst days of his life.
Random Eagles fans all started Venmo’ing Cody Parkey money for the missed FG so a ton of people created fake Cody Parkey Venmo accounts trying to get paid by random Eagles fans. pic.twitter.com/ohTvRZsYtd
— Will Brinson (@WillBrinson) January 7, 2019
And as Brinson noted, people actually paid up to some random people on Venmo, just to say they sent a devestated kicker some money for a laugh.
Omg it’s actually working look at these morons. pic.twitter.com/MDw65vhvga
— Will Brinson (@WillBrinson) January 7, 2019
Josh Schrock noted in a story that the real Parkey actually deactivated his Venmo account shortly after the windfall came through, but that didn’t stop anyone from giving away money to a random Cody Parkey.
Eagles fans Venmoing anyone with the username Cody Parkey as a thanks for the missed field goal. Get that free money if you can. pic.twitter.com/0uqtl2uboS
— Josh Schrock (@Schrock_And_Awe) January 7, 2019
What’s the value of a missed field goal? Well, it depends on which fake Venmo account you scrambled to make in the wake of a Chicago sports disaster.