After re-watching the film from Cody Parkey's dramatic game-winning field goal attempt against the Eagles, the NFL has decided that the kick will go down as a blocked field goal instead of a miss.
The league officially made the stat correction on Monday.
Although the NFL's decision probably won't make Parkey feel any better about the kick, it does mean that the miss wasn't totally his fault, and it also means that defensive tackle Treyvon Hester should be viewed as a hero in Philadelphia, because he's the one who got a finger tip on it.
The drama in Chicago started late in the fourth quarter when Parkey lined up for a 43-yard field goal. In what will likely go down as one of the wildest field goal attempts in playoff history, Parkey's kick bounced off the left upright AND the crossbar before bouncing out.
Upright. Crossbar. Out. pic.twitter.com/nWtpr4LyGB
— The Checkdown (@thecheckdown) January 7, 2019
In the immediate aftermath of the miss, all blame was placed on Parkey, and that's because there was no indication that the kick had been tipped. The tip by Hester was so subtle that the NBC broadcast didn't even mention it. Instead, Parkey took the blame and was booed off the field in Chicago.
Following the loss, Parkey seemed perplexed about the miss, and that's because he thought he hit the ball well.
"I thought I hit a great ball and was trying to play the wind," Parkey said. "There's really no answer to it. I didn't make it. I take that loss on me."
No one really seemed to be aware that the kick had been tipped until Hester causally mentioned it during his postgame interview.
"Me and Haloti [Ngata] ... we got penetration, got the hand up like coach always says," Hester said, via the Philadelphia Daily News. "Tipped off my fingertips. Felt good ... [but] actually, I thought I didn't get enough of it, I thought it was going to go in. When I saw it going in, I turned back around [away from the goal posts]. Then I heard everybody screaming, I was like, oh, [expletive] ... he missed it."
After Hester gave the details, people still weren't convinced that the kick had been tipped. The video from the game wasn't clear even though people were breaking it down frame-by-frame. Of course, we do now know it was blocked for two reasons: The NFL says it was and photographer Jeff Haynes perfectly caught the play on camera.
Here's a look at what will probably go down as the best picture you'll see of the play.
Photographer Jeff Haynes captured the exact moment Treyvon Hester tipped Cody Parkey’s kick. pic.twitter.com/wxWIIBPetw
— The MMQB (@theMMQB) January 7, 2019
If you zoom-in on the photo, you can see Hester's index finger slightly touch the ball.
Photo from Jeff Haynes, Treyvon Hester tipping Cody Parkey’s final kick. pic.twitter.com/ayURZByaob
— Gregg Grose (@GreggGrose) January 7, 2019
If this picture proves one thing, it's that football isn't just a game of inches, it's a game of centimeters. Thanks to Hester's finger tips, the Eagles will be moving on this week to play the Saints, and the Bears won't be going anywhere, because their season's over.