Former San Francisco 49ers kicker Robbie Gould announced his retirement on Thursday morning via a thoughtfully written piece in The Player's Tribune, officially calling it a career. Gould spent the final six seasons of his 18-season playing career in The Bay and exits the league with a perfect postseason kicking record (29-for-29 FGA and 39-for-39 PATs) and as No. 10 on the NFL's list of all-time leading scorers with 1,961 points. He finished as the 49ers fourth all-time scoring leader with 704 points and second in field goals made (161).
As Gould closes this chapter, he looked back fondly on his playing career that spanned from 2005 to 2022 across five organizations - the New England Patriots, Baltimore Ravens, Chicago Bears, New York Giants and San Francisco 49ers.
"To have the kind of playing-career experience that I had in the NFL was nothing short of amazing, and my level of gratitude for the journey — the ups, the downs, the in-between — is immeasurable," Gould wrote. "In short, my NFL story is hard to believe, and it's filled with a plethora of 'pinch-me' moments."
While there have been many memorable kicks in Gould's lengthy NFL tenure, there is one that sticks out above the rest, and it's a kick that already lives in 49ers playoff lore.
San Francisco's 2021 playoff run took them to the Frozen Tundra for the NFC Divisional Round Game. In a snowy, defensive battle with the Green Bay Packers, the deadlocked 10-10 game came down to Gould and a 45-yard field goal attempt to put it all away. The Faithful already know how this one ended, but it's best described by the player who sailed it through the uprights for the walkoff-win.
"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," Gould wrote. "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."
Gould went on to write that he expects to have lots of family time and golf in his next chapter.
