Cody Parker will have come away from Chicago Bear’s heart-breaking Wildcard Weekend defeat and exit from the NFL playoffs with some consolation.
This because it was not an error on the part of the Bears kicker that saw his critical, final-second field goal attempt hit the left upright, bounce on the crossbar and fall back into the field of play.
If instead, he had successfully sent the ball between the posts, Bears would have snatched a late, great victory.
As it was, though, his miss enabled the Philadelphia Eagles to let go of a huge joint sigh of relief and troop off the field as 16-15 winners.
If Parker’s initial kick was true what then went wrong?
It was a finger-tip nudge by a wide-awake opponent as the ball flew over him on target that did the trick.
It deflected the ball sufficiently so as to send it crashing into the left upright instead of soaring between the two of them.
Parker’s redemption was good for the man himself, but certainly not for all the punters who put their money on the Bears. Most were feeling pretty miserable – until it was reported on Monday that those bettors who had backed the Bears using the New Jersey sportsbook FanDuel would get their money back.
Bad Beat
They are to be given a ‘bad beat’ credit matching their bets of up to $100.
This is not the first time this has happened – and it won’t be the last. But the move is certainly unusual.
It was made to ‘keep the fun in betting.” According to a statement issued by Mike Raffensperger, CMO of the New Jersey sports betting and sports fantasy giant.
“We are thrilled for the Eagles, but it was a tough way for the Bears to lose.
“With the playoff season heating up, we did this to prove there are more ways to win on the FanDuel Sportsbook and once again show why we are the most innovative and fun sportsbook in the United States,” Raffensperger said in a statement.
That FanDuel is more innovative than most of New Jersey’s other sportsbooks is no empty boast.
Earlier this season, FanDuel made sports betting history when more than a month before the final game of the College Football National Championship was actually played, it paid out all future bets on one of the teams winning the title.
The team in question was Alabama who, as it turned out, were whipped by Clemson
