Brewery Offers Year Of Free Beer To Anyone Who Can Kick A Field Goal Better Than Cody Parkey [UPDATED]

Update, January 14, 2019: Well, no one successfully kicked the 43-yard field goal this past weekend. (Official rules prohibited "current or former collegiate football, soccer, and rugby players and coaches" from participating, which may have eliminated some of the most likely winners.) Snowy conditions might also have been a factor, as video and photos from the event show plenty of slipping and sliding and even a dude getting a football kicked into his crotch. Good times were had by all.

Update, January 11, 2019: Scratch that. Goose Island will not be offering free beer to any winners of tomorrow's field-goal-kicking competition. The Chicago Tribune reports that the brewery changed its offer in order to stay on the right side of an Illinois law barring breweries from giving away free beer. Instead, anyone who can kick the 43-yard field goal will receive airfare, hotel, and free entry to any regular-season NFL game next season.

Original story, January 9: It was the double-doink heard 'round the world—or at least the Midwest. The Chicago Bears lost to the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday in a wild card playoff game that ended when Bears kicker Cody Parkey dinged a potential game-winning 43-yard field goal kick off not just the upright, but the crossbar too, before it bounced forward onto the field.

A collective wail rose over the Windy City.

It's easy to lay blame at Parkey's non-field-goal-kicking feet. But Chicago-based Goose Island brewery—owned by Anheuser-Busch since 2011—wants to remind the public that kicking a 43-yard field goal is no easy task. So, it's inviting "all you pro athletes" to come out and try it themselves. The brewery will erect a field goal outside its Fulton Street taproom on Saturday beginning at 1 p.m., and if you make the kick, you'll win free beer for a year. (The Chicago Tribune notes that the prize is in the form of a different case of Goose Island beer every week for a year.)

Official rules state you must be at least 21 years old; one kick per person; sign-up begins at noon; referee calls are final.

For the record, the NFL officially changed the call on that kick from a missed kick to a blocked kick. If you attempt Goose Island's challenge, have people stand very clear of your lane.