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Just like that, Jay Cutler is now the longest-tenured player in the Bears locker room.

Cutler moved up a peg Sunday night when the team released Robbie Gould, the franchise’s most successful kicker.

The Bears are expected to sign kicker Connor Barth, who was among the Saints’ final cuts this weekend, as they prepare for their season opener against the Texans in Houston on Sept. 11. The 30-year-old has seven years of NFL experience with the Chiefs, Buccaneers and Broncos.

Gould leaves as the team’s all-time leading scorer with 1,207 points. He was the most accurate kicker in team history and, at 85.4 percent, ranks ninth in NFL history.

But Gould, 34, was due to earn $3 million in base salary this season and had a $500,000 roster bonus. After he was shaky in the preseason, the Bears decided to make a move. He had the fifth-highest annual average salary for kickers entering this season at $3.75 million.

Gould did not return a message Sunday night.

Barth is 63-for-64 inside 40 yards since 2010. His only miss was a block from 35 yards in 2012. He’s also familiar with the coaches as he spent the final five games of the 2014 season with John Fox and special teams coordinator Jeff Rodgers in Denver after Brandon McManus lost the job.

Gould was 5-for-6 on field goals in the preseason but missed two extra points in the exhibition finale Thursday in Cleveland. The second one was blocked after what looked to be a poor snap.

Gould had a rough patch last season after starting on a tear by making his first 15 field-goal attempts. Gould missed a 36-yarder wide left as regulation time expired in a 26-20 overtime loss to the 49ers at Soldier Field on Dec. 20. A week later, his 50-yard try with 1 minute, 40 seconds remaining was wide right in a 24-21 loss to the Redskins, also at home.

Gould finished the season right near his career average by making 84.6 percent of his field goals, but he did miss six of his final 24.

The Bears also ranked 32nd in opponents’ average starting field position on kickoffs, a combination of Gould’s work and the coverage team, which — in fairness to the kicker — struggled at times.

But Gould had a heck of a run that began in Week 4 of the 2005 season when he was signed the day before a game against the Browns in Cleveland. Veteran Doug Brien was out with a bad back. Special teams coordinator Dave Toub selected Gould, a rookie who had been in camp with the Patriots, over veterans Steve Christie, Martin Gramatica and Tim Seder as well as another relative unknown in Carter Warley.

“I had zero clue who he was,” veteran long snapper Patrick Mannelly said of Gould’s tryout. “The only thing I knew is you heard a louder pop when he hit it — that and the trajectory of his kicks.

“A lot of guys, when they get older, the flight of the ball starts coming down. He was kicking them way up the uprights every time.”

Gould kicked them straight through the uprights for a long time, battling the difficult conditions that kickers and punters face playing half their games at Soldier Field, along the lakefront. The Bears did not have competition for Gould during training camp, so it appeared his job was secure.

He will likely land work elsewhere while the Bears move on from a player who held down the job for almost 11 full seasons.

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Twitter @BradBiggs

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