Bears' release of Robbie Gould appeared to be two-step process

The circumstances still have some cloudiness to them, if only because the details of roster decisions are rarely disclosed in full. But the Bears’ decision to cut longtime franchise fixture Robbie Gould was ostensibly a two-step process that began when the New Orleans Saints released kicker Connor Barth.

With Barth available, the Bears then moved to part ways with Gould in a face-to-face meeting by general manager Ryan Pace and coach  John Fox late Sunday.

“So for us it was if a specific player comes available, and we know that we’re able to acquire that player, then that’s something we need to entertain and discuss,” Pace said on Monday. “So that’s kind of how it played out, when we knew this guy would be available for us, it made the switch a possibility.”

If there is one curiosity it would be that Barth was available as of New Orleans’ cuts on Saturday, yet Gould was not cut until 24 hours later. One suggestion was that the veteran kicker declined a pay cut from his $3 million base for this year and the team the acted, feeling that Gould’s occasional difficulties last season made his price too high for a kicker possibly on the decline.

Gould arguably made the organization’s decision for it when he missed one extra point and had another blocked in the final preseason game at Cleveland.

The Bears did not bring a kicker to training camp to serve as competition simply because they did not see options on the street that merited the opportunity to supplant Gould.

“We’d identified guys with other teams that we liked, that were occupied with those other teams. That’s where I felt the quality was at that position. It wasn’t necessarily somebody sitting on the street that we could bring in and say that was a legitimate challenge. Those players exist on other rosters so it was just a matter, ‘Hey, if they cut this guy, we gotta talk about it.’”

Barth kicked for Fox and the Denver Broncos, and Fox found that “He's extremely accurate. We had him in Denver, brought him in in a similar situation. The key is, we call it ‘points’ team, when you get those opportunities, you've got to get those points.”

When Gould didn’t get those points last Thursday in Denver, a change was coming.