Robbie Gould outscored the entire Chicago Bears roster to boost the 49ers to 2-10 on the season.
It was a fitting end to the John Fox era. He may not get fired tomorrow, but it is coming in the next month. Robbie Gould, who hit 86% of his kicks in his last season with the Chicago Bears was let go after just one season with John Fox, but 11 overall with the Bears organization.
The move seemed questionable at the time, but minute as well. Now, it has come back to cost the team more than just one game. A small move such as kicker should not come back to blow up in someones face the way it did with John Fox. But it did.
The Bears have been unable to solve their kicker issues since Fox made the move to let Gould go. At first, it was Connor Barth. Barth gave the Bears an immediate decline, hitting 78% of his kicks last season. In case you were wondering Gould was 10-10 last season.
This season, Barth was even worst and cost the team’s games making 68% of his kicks and ending up being released before the end of the year. Cairo Santos has come in and has already missed one of his first two field goals, and left the game early due to injury in his second game with the Bears.
The game in which Santos left the Bears without a kicker is the game that Gould, 91% on the year, hit five field goals in an effort to beat the Chicago Bears 15-14.
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The best part? It was blunder after blunder, blown decision after a blown decision by Fox that gave Gould the chance to show him up. Fox lost another challenge. He played conservative all game. Tarik Cohen shined in minimal chances that were kept minimal by play calling. With the 49ers having a chip shot field goal and nothing to do but waste clock, Fox did not call for the defense to let the 49ers score and give himself time on the game clock to orchestrate a drive to tie or win the game. Nope, Fox wanted Gould to have his gimme chip shot to really stick the knife in him as the Bears head coach. Thanks for the memories, John. You will forever be known as the Bears coach outdueled by his former kicker.