Cody Parkey didn’t hit the upright in his first kick Sunday night.
He hit nothing but the back of the field-goal net.
Maligned all week after he, amazingly, doing four kicks off the upright against the Lions, the kicker took the field at the end of the Bears’ first offensive possession against the Vikings at Soldier Field. He drilled a 33-yard field goal through the middle of the goalposts to uproarious cheers from the home crowd.
Parkey spent two nights practicing at Soldier Field this week — on Wednesday and Thursday. On the first night, two separate traffic helicopters watched him take aim inside the empty stadium.
The Bears stuck by Parkey after the worst game of his career. Coach Matt Nagy said immediately after the Lions win that the team had no plans to replace him.
Parkey wasn’t perfect in the first quarter Sunday night — after making the field goal, he booted the kickoff out of bounds at the 2-yard line, giving the Vikings the ball at the 40.
