Former 49ers kicker Gould announces NFL retirement after 18 seasons

Former 49ers kicker Gould announces NFL retirement after 18 seasons originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

Former 49ers kick Robbie Gould's NFL career officially came to an end on Thursday.

The 41-year-old announced his retirement from the game after 18 seasons in a post to the Players' Tribune.

Gould started his career as an undrafted free agent out of Penn State playing his first 11 seasons with the Chicago Bears after spending a brief stint with the New England Patriots as a rookie.

He played his final six seasons with the 49ers as one of the first acquisitions made by general manager John Lynch and coach Kyle Shanahan as they began their roles in Santa Clara.

“Kyle is the best head coach in the NFL,” Gould told NBC Sports Bay Area at the American Century Championship at Edgewood Tahoe Resort in July. “The guy is an offensive genius. He’s an awesome dude. I can’t speak highly enough about how great of a dude he is, how awesome he’s been to me. I think he’s unbelievable as a head coach.

“The opportunity to come in and play for him was awesome. He fought for me every single time my deal was up. I tried my best to play as hard as I could and give everything I could to the organization."

In that first season with the club, Gould led the league with a career-high 39 field goals made in 2017.

In 2018, Gould's 97.1 percent field goal success rate was the best in the league. He remained with the club through the 2022 season making 161 of his 184 field goal attempts and 221 of his 230 extra point tries.

Maybe even more impactful in the playoffs, Gould was gold. In 16 playoff appearances, the Pennsylvania native never missed, converting all 29 of his field goals and 39 point after attempts.

Gould wrote about those big game-winning moments that likely had fans at home wringing their hands, with racing hearts.

“Big moments like that — the pressure on me and everyone watching — that was my happy place,” Gould wrote. “Call me crazy, but I lived for that. I wanted the game to come down to me. I truly believe that if you love something enough, if you have a passion for it, if you deep down know as a competitor that you hate to lose, you’ll do anything you can to prepare yourself to be ready in moments like that.”

Bay Area fans might not remember all of Gould’s game-winning kicks, but they should remember one of his most recent — from the 2021 NFC Divisional Round win over the Green Bay Packers. With the score tied at 10-10 and four seconds left on the clock, Gould calmly walked out onto the field as the snow continued to fall.

“Jimmy [Garoppolo] had just taken the Niners offense 44 yards in nine plays against the top-seeded Packers,” Gould wrote. “Deebo [Samuel] and [Kyle] Juszczyk had huge plays to give us a shot to win it from 45 and send San Francisco to the NFC Championship.

“The temperature was below zero, and it felt exactly the way it did when I played in the Windy City. Snow was falling, and the ground was soft. It wasn’t ideal, but none of that mattered; as a kicker, it was one of those moments I lived for every time I stepped on the field. And then….

"We nailed it right down the middle. Just like that, the game was over.”

The team rushed the field in elation, celebrating in the end zone. The 49ers would not make it past the Los Angeles Rams in the NFC Championship Game but nevertheless, it will be one of Gould’s -- and the 49ers Faithful's -- all-time most memorable kicks.

Gould currently is 10th in NFL history with 1,961 points scored and his 86.4 percent field goal success rate ranks him ninth. His 447 field goals made placed him eighth all-time, while his 161 field goals with the 49ers placed him behind only Ray Wersching (190) who played for the club for 10 seasons from 1977-1987.

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