Reports: Bears to cut K Parkey in March

After a difficult season culminated by a crucial missed field goal on a potential game-winning field goal in the NFC playoffs, kicker Cody Parkey will be released by the Chicago Bears when the new league year begins in March. According to multiple reports on Friday, the team intends to cut ties with Parkey once the NFL free agency period begins on March 13. Parkey, who turned 27 on Tuesday, endured an inconsistent season in Chicago after inking a four-year, $15 million contract last winter following the team's release of Robbie Gould, the Bears' all-time leading scorer who moved on to the San Francisco 49ers. Parkey, a five-year veteran, not only missed a career-high seven field-goal attempts and three extra points during the regular season, but his 43-yard attempt in the final seconds of the NFC wild-card round against the Philadelphia Eagles first hit the upright then the crossbar before bouncing back on the field. Despite the NFL later ruling that the kick was partially blocked, Parkey took much of the public blame for the Bears' season ending. Parkey began his career with the Eagles in 2014 when he made the Pro Bowl as a rookie, scoring a franchise-record 150 points while making 32 of 36 field-goal tries. In two seasons with the Eagles, Parkey never missed an extra point. Parkey later kicked for the Cleveland Browns in 2016 and Miami Dolphins in 2017. In January, the Bears signed Tulsa product Redford Jones after conducting a workout that reportedly included multiple hopefuls. Jones made 50 of his 67 field-goal attempts at Tulsa from 2015-17, and he does have a kick on his resume where he hit both uprights. Unlike Parkey's double-doink, though, that 2016 attempt against Cincinnati ended up going over the crossbar for three points. "We need more production out of that position," Bears general manager Ryan Pace said last month after signing Jones. "We know we need to get better there, and it will be an area of focus." --Field Level Media