Thread by @Bearlissimo1

Ok here's my take on "The Miss"

Preface, Parkey needs a new start, or perhaps to save his mental health & retire. I mean this sincerely & will explain.

Now, I don't blame Scales, O'Donnell, Parkey (that's right to a degree I don't blame him), Coach Tabor or Coach Nagy.
#DaBears

I don't blame Ryan Pace for signing him (albeit an expensive out if he didn't cut it).

Why?

Below you see The Johari Window model. I won't explain all, because there are seminars online, articles, even YouTube clips explaining. But this season, Cody Parkey moved

From bottom right "the unknown" into "the shared self".

There are many factors in any successful kick, the snap, hold, blocking, air temperature, altitude, humidity, wind, turf condition, I could go on.

The crucial skills under fire are mental strength & concentration.

Some of these are innate traits under pressure, some are possible to train.

Your basic response under stress is in the unknown area, you don't know, they don't know, Parkey clearly struggles in pressure moments.

As anyone in the Armed Forces or Medical Profession will likely

attest, you can do all the training in the world, even perform great in practice & simulation or tests, but only repetition & that innate strength will get you through under fire.

Some have it, some don't, it doesn't make those in either category better or worse as people.

But it does mean you can count on them under fire, time after time.

Now as a kicker, you can still do it perfectly and a sudden gust, slip or block can beat you, but only those who can do it under fire belong in the NFL playing for the Bears.

I really wish Cody well, no-one

wanted him to miss who's a Bear. We wanted him to make it. But in the crucial moment, after he knew he's going to be iced (first snap pressure off) when it mattered Cody didn't have that strength.

It wasn't god's plan, it wasn't the wind or a block, it was the unknown shared.