What Should Have Been: Robbie Gould
Good as Gould is a saying I grew up with as a young Bears fan. Robbie was always reliable, always on point, and always dependable. Even though it had been a rough year prior I was still shocked when he was released. It turns out so was Robbie, and now he's speaking out on how he would have very much rather have finished his career in Chicago.
«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.»
«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.
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.
