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Nearly six years after his release from the Bears, kicker Robbie Gould is still beloved in Chicago. Gould spent 11 years with the Bears before being cut following a disastrous 2015 season where he missed some big kicks that cost the team games.
But following Gould’s release, Chicago endured four years of kicker struggles, including Cody Parkey’s infamous double doink to the circus that was the Bears’ kicker competition in 2019.
Gould appeared on ESPN 1000’s Waddle & Silvy last Thursday, where he opened up about the moment he learned he was cut.
“I got cut 9 o’clock at night and no one was there,” Gould said. “There was a trainer, John Fox and Ryan Pace. I didn’t get to say goodbye to anybody in the building for 11 years and you cut me at the very last minute. In hopes that, you know, obviously, I wouldn’t get a job. Which wasn’t the care. I had opportunities. I just chose not to do those because I didn’t want to go play for places that were gonna lose.”
While it was disappointing, he promises there are “no hard feelings.” After all, he’s gone on record stating how being cut served as a reality check that helped restart his career. After a short one-year stint with the Giants, Gould found success with the 49ers for the last five years.
Perhaps the most brutal part for Bears fans — other than the kicker insanity that ensued for the next four years — was the fact that Gould wanted to play his entire career in Chicago.
“I wanted to finish my career here,” Gould said. “I would have loved to be a Bear like Jason Hanson (of the Lions) for 20 years. That would have been amazing to me. These are things you can’t control as a player.”
The list of names that succeeded Gould in a starting capacity is a brutal one: Connor Barth, Mike Nugent, Cody Parkey, Eddy Pineiro and Cairo Santos. The Bears have since found stability at kicker in Santos, who signed a three-year extension last offseason.
Gould became the Bears’ all-time leading scorer with 1,207 points back in 2015. In 11 seasons, Gould connected on 85.4% of his field goals and 99.0% of his extra points with Chicago.
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