Double Doink PTSD? Former Chicago Bears coach still haunted by the missed FG heard ‘round the world

For those you who mercifully missed the Doink Game—or for those of you who've pushed it out of your Bears-loving brain (like me)—here’s the quickie recap:

• It was the 2018 NFC Wild Card clash. The Bears were hosting the Philadelphia Eagles.

• Philly’s defense dominated the low-scoring game until the tail end of the fourth quarter, when Bears QB Mitchell Trubisky led a pair of scoring drives—one ended in a 34-yard field goal by Cody Parkey, the other, a 22-yard touchdown pass to Allen Robinson Jr.—that gave the Bears a 15-10 lead.

• The Eagles then punched in a touchdown with 0:56 left on the clock, after which Trubisky had his finest moment as a Bear, driving the team down to Philadelphia’s 25-yard line.

• Out came Parkey, whose semi-blocked FG attempt proceeded to hit not one, but two goal posts—doink, doink.

• The Bears lost 16-15, and they’ve played in a mere one postseason game since.

Turns out that the Double Doink—so named by ace NFL color analyst Cris Collinsworth—still lives rent-free in the head of Chicago’s then-head coach.

Nagy Can’t Let It Go

Matt Nagy was a guest this week’s episode of Travis and Jason Kelce’s podcast New Heights, and in the lengthy, and fascinating interview, the current Kansas City Chiefs offensive coordinator—who oversees Travis each and every day—admitted that Parkey’s clinker—or was it a clunker?—still pains him to this day.

Always an honest and genial soul, Jason is very much on Team Nagy, opining, “If that Double Doink doesn’t happen, Matt, you might still be head coach of the Chicago Bears.”

Honest. Genial. And wrong.

Y’see, between 2019-2021—the final three years of the Nagy regime—the Bears never finished higher than 20th place in just about every team offensive category, those categories being yards per game, points per game, rushing yards per game, and passing yards per game.

And keep in mind that when the Bears hired Nagy, he was believed to be an offensive guru.

Nagy is in a much happier place now—he’s coaching Patrick Mahomes rather than Trubisky—but based on his convo with the Kelces, no matter how many Super Bowl appearances he makes, the Double Doink won’t ever be forgotten.