Ball that double-doinked off goalposts in Bears’ playoff loss could fetch $100K

SHARE Ball that double-doinked off goalposts in Bears’ playoff loss could fetch $100K
eagles_bears_football_80966374_e1547418914457.jpg

Bears kicker Cody Parkey’s 43-yard field goal attempt with 10 seconds left hit the left upright and crossbar and was no good, saddling the Bears with a 16-15 loss to the defending Super Bowl champion Philadelphia Eagles in a wild-card game at Soldier Field on Sunday. | David Banks/AP photo

Bears fans are sure to feel the sting for months to come after the team’s postseason run clanked to an end with Cody Parkey’s tipped kick that bounced off an upright and again off the crossbar.

One possible salve to the Bears blues? Cold hard cash, if you happen to track down the ball that doinked its way into Chicago sports infamy.

RELATED: Make Cody Parkey’s missed field goal, get free beer for a year

Memorabilia expert Ken Goldin estimates the ball could fetch about $25,000 at auction, or north of $100,000 if the Philadelphia Eagles notch another Super Bowl win.

“It would become a historic collectors’ item for Philly fans if they go all the way,” Goldin, CEO of Goldin Auctions in New Jersey, said on Thursday.

“The question is what happened to that ball. Did a player grab it? Did the ref take it?”

Replays of the NBC broadcast don’t shed much light on what happened to the oblong relic.

After consecutive doinks, video shows the ball bounce back to the end zone goal line and wobble to a season-ending halt near the three-yard line. Camera crews then turned their attention to a devastated Parkey and an open-mouthed head coach Matt Nagy.

The ball came to rest near the three-yard line. | YouTube/NFL Highlights

The ball came to rest near the three-yard line. | YouTube/NFL Highlights

Neither Bears nor NFL reps returned messages seeking comment on what happened to the now-infamous ball.

If you happen to track down the ball — and get it certified by the NFL — you might be wise to find a buyer ASAP. Goldin estimated the $25,000 price tag would tumble by half if the Eagles don’t win the Super Bowl.

“It wouldn’t carry the same significance,” he said.

However, even if the Eagles lose, the ball could actually still be appealing to Bears fans if the Parkey ball is seen as similar to another notorious Chicago sports sphere: the baseball that fan Steve Bartman famously reached for during a 2003 National League Championship Series game at Wrigley Field, when the Cubs were five outs away from appearing in their first World Series since 1945. The Cubs went on to lose.

Restaurateur Grant DePorter forked out $106,600 — plus tax — for that ball, only to detonate it in a highly-publicized effort to help exorcise the Cubby curse.

The Latest
Gutierrez has not started the past two games, even though the offense has struggled.
Once again there are dozens of players with local ties moving on from their previous college stop in search of a better or different opportunity.
Rawlinson hopes to make an announcement regarding the team’s plans for an individual practice facility before the 2024 season begins.
Bet on it: Don’t expect Grifol’s team, which is on pace to challenge the 2003 Tigers for the most losses in a season, to be favored much this year
Not all filmmakers participating in the 15-day event are of Palestinian descent, but their art reclaims and champions narratives that have been defiled by those who have a Pavlovian tendency to think terrorists — not innocent civilians — when they visualize Palestinian men, women and children.