What could've been?
For years, Bears fans have pleaded for the team to bring back Robbie Gould, who they reluctantly cut on a random night at 10 p.m. after the 2015 season. After they released their 11-year leg, the Bears went through a revolving door of kickers. Connor Barth, Cairo Santos (the first time), Mike Nugent, Cody Parkey and Eddy Pineiro were some of the names who tried and failed.
During the 2018 season, Parkey booted a horrendous 76.7 percent of his field goals. And during the first round of postseason action for the highly-anticipated 12-4 Bears, he double-doinked a game-winning kick against the Eagles to lose the game at Soldier Field, ending the Bears' season.
Ever since, Bears fans have reminisced about Gould's golden era of kicking in Chicago, wishing he would return. However, at one point, the Bears tried to get Gould back into a navy blue jersey after Parkey's putrid 2018 season.
"Ryan Pace tried to get me back in a trade a few years afterward. When the Eddy Pineiro trade happened because I was holding out from San Francisco," Gould said on ESPN 1000.
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Gould confirmed on the radio that the Bears tried to create a reunion to satiate their desperate kicking needs. Talks did not occur before Parkey missed the infamous last kick of the season in the playoffs. Trade talks for Gould transpired after the 2018 season before they moved on to Pineiro.
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Not only would Gould have helped the Bears in a big way, but fans would also have been ecstatic about seeing their once beloved, longtime kicker back in the city he appreciates the most. Gould is an avid Chicago sports fan. He lives in Chicago during the offseasons.
Alas, the Bears and the 49ers couldn't shake hands on returning Gould to Chicago.
Luckily, the Bears have found a stable kicker in Santos, who struggled last season, but has made over 85 percent of his field goals in each of the three seasons he's been a Bear. The Bears also brought in kicker Andre Smyzt, an undrafted rookie out of Syracuse, to compete in rookie minicamp.