What Should Have Been: Robbie Gould

«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.