By Woodrow Carroll
Cody Parkey is alive and kicking. Parkey, the former Chicago Bears’ kicker best remembered for his double-doink missed field goal in the National Football League (NFL) playoffs two years ago against the Philadelphia Eagles. He will play with the Cleveland Browns at the Kansas City Chiefs in the second weekend of playoffs.
With the Bears trailing 16-15 in the waning seconds January 6, 2019, Parkey’s 43-yard field goal attempt hit both the upright and crossbar. But, it came down on the wrong side for Bears’ fans and it was enough to secure an Eagles’ victory.
Replays of Parkey’s kick suggest that the ball may have been tipped slightly by an Eagles’ player prior to reaching the goal posts. That was small consolation to Parkey and Bears’ fans who had become frustrated with Parkey’s erratic kicking throughout the 2018 season.
Parkey compounded his felony by going on national television to talk about the missed kick, an act that helped to speed his departure from the Bears’ organization.
Parkey bounced around the NFL. He is in his second tour of duty with Cleveland after having kicked for the Browns in 2016.
You might not want to call it redemption, however, Parkey is still alive in the playoffs, thanks to the Cleveland Browns’ 48-37 victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers.
The third-seeded Steelers played host to the No. 6 Browns. Fifteen minutes into the game, the favored Steelers were in arrears 28-0.
Pittsburgh did mount a semblance of a comeback, but it was too little, too late. The final two scores put on the board by the Browns were field goals by Parkey. Two Parkey field goals in the final five minutes rightly could be described as a security blanket. A Steelers’ touchdown and two-point conversion with 1:09 to go made the final score a better for the Steelers. That was about all! Thanks to Parkey’s field goals it was not a one-possession game and the Browns breathed easily.
Next up for the Browns and Parkey will be a meeting Sunday with the host defending Super Bowl champion Chiefs.
Six games were played as a part of the NFL’s playoff structure Saturday and Sunday. All six playoff defeated teams reached double figures with one exception, the Bears, who lost, 21-9, to the New Orleans Saints. The Bears tacked on a touchdown just as time expired which was small consolation.
The Cleveland Browns history is worth an examination. The Browns were in the All-American Football Conference, 1946-1949, and, the Browns were dominant by winning championships all four years.
The Browns joined the NFL in 1950 and Browns continued to be a football force.
Cleveland took home NFL championships in 1950, 1954, 1955, led by quarterback Otto Graham of Waukegan and Northwestern University, and in 1964. But, that was the end of the championship trophies for Cleveland.
Sunday’s victory over the Steelers was the first playoff victory for the Browns since 1995. More than anything else, the Browns’ fans were made to suffer, thanks to the ownership of Art Modell.
Modell purchased the Browns in 1961. In 1995, seeking riches elsewhere, Modell moved the franchise to Baltimore where Ravens took flight.
For three seasons Cleveland was not directly part of the NFL picture.
In 1999 pro football returned to Cleveland after a three-year hiatus. As an expansion team with the right to use the Browns’ name, colors and certain intellectual properties. Those who follow the pro football scene know, life has not been good for the Browns for nearly the last quarter-century.
Those of us used to the Rams’ horn (Los Angeles Rams) and Colts horseshoe (Indianapolis Colts) might be surprised to learn that the Browns are the only NFL team with a without a helmet insignia. In the future, the Browns would like to be known for winning football games, first and foremost.