New angle of Bears missed field goal shows how impossibly close Cody Parkey’s kick came to going in

Football is a game of inches and nobody knows that better than Bears kicker Cody Parkey, who had one of the craziest missed field goal attempts in NFL playoff history on Sunday during the final seconds of Chicago's 16-15 loss to Philadelphia. 

With 10 seconds left to play, Parkey lined up for a 43-yard field goal that would have put the Bears in the lead, but instead, this happened. 

The dreaded double doink. The kick hit off the upright AND the crossbar, and just like that, the Bears season was over. Parkey will likely be re-living this kick in his head for a long time, and that's because this field goal was just inches away from going in despite the fact that the ball was tipped by Eagles defensive tackle Treyvon Hester.  

After the kick missed, NBC's Cris Collinsworth noted that the ball could have gone if it had hit the crossbar differently, "It just depended on what side of the football hit the crossbar," Collinsworth said. 

To give you an idea of how close this kick came to going in, here's another angle of the field goal that was taken from someone who had a front row seat for the kick. 

After the ball hit the upright, it fell straight down, which almost never happens, and for a brief second, it looked like the kick might actually go in. 

Cody Parkey is probably going to have nightmares about this kick.  NBC/NFL Game Pass

If you want an idea of how much one missed field goal can haunt a kicker, just think about all the things that will likely be running through Parkey's head over the offseason: If he kicks the ball two inches higher, Hester probably doesn't tip it and the ball likely goes straight down the middle for a Bears win. If the ball hits the crossbar differently, it might have bounced in. If the ball hits the upright one inch to the right, it most likely bounces in. If the ball hits the stanchion (the middle post) and bounces out instead of hitting the crossbar and bouncing out, the kick would have been good.

Instead, the kick missed and the Bears season is now over. 

Finally, here's one more angle of the missed kick. For more on the Eagles wild win, you can click here for our takeaways from the game.