Chicago Bears' Gould confident ... and he should be

The man who taught Spencer Lanning everything he knows about holding on PAT kicks and field goals at the NFL level knew exactly what needed to happen.

Robbie Gould, after all, has done this and done that, especially when he focused on Soldier Field's south end zone with Jordan-esque confidence … and with few seconds on the game clock and winds swirling.

"Michael Jordan never said he didn't want the ball at the end of the game. Let's be honest," Gould said with a chuckle. "When he passed, he probably didn't like passing. When you get in situations like that (to hit a game-winner), that's your opportunity as a kicker to earn respect in the locker room."

The trusty kicker delivered again Sunday.

Gould split the south end-zone uprights from 49 yards out with two seconds left to lift the previously winless Bears to a 22-20 victory over the Oakland Raiders.

Gould's field goal capped a 12-play, 48-yard drive after Sebastian Janikowski's 41-yarder with 2:05 left in the fourth had given the visitors the lead.

"Oh, man, I'm great," a smiling Gould said as he met reporters at his locker stall. "Winning feels good."

With Patrick O'Donnell unable to play because of a right-knee injury, Lanning was signed Friday to punt and hold, possibly just for the Raiders game. That Gould's last-second kick was good didn't surprise the journeyman punter.

"I don't think he's afraid of missing," Lanning said. "He's going to go at it and pick the best spot he can. There's a certain air of confidence.

"We laugh about it all the time. He's just good. There was no doubt in my mind when we got a chance. He said the line is the (Oakland) 42. So when we got to the 42, it was like, as long as we don't lose the ball, it's over."

The Bears reached the Oakland 43 on Jay's Cutler's 12-yard pass to Eddie Royal. Cutler's 9-yard toss to Marquess Wilson put the ball at the 34, and Matt Forte's carry for 2 yards positioned Gould for his chance to win the game.

Pressure on Gould. Pressure on … the new holder?

Lanning laughed it off. Heck, he was holding for his friend - his holding mentor, essentially. Lanning punted for Cleveland the last two years. But after the Bears parted ways with Brad Maynard following the 2010 season, they brought in Lanning, before ultimately signing free agent Adam Podlesh.

"I would consider myself an above-average holder, and I think that's because of Robbie," said Lanning, who flew in Wednesday after working out for the Carolina Panthers on Tuesday and tried out Thursday. "I came in here as an undrafted rookie (in 2011) and was a kicker and punter in college (at South Carolina). Never held a day in my life."

Sunday, he held the ball with an NFL game on the line and on the foot of a guy who headed into the season as the sixth-most accurate kicker in league history. Gould's last game-winner came in overtime against Baltimore at Soldier Field in 2013.

Sunday's winner made him 9-for-9 this season.

"I love that (south) end zone because that's the wind I'm used to," Gould said after his third field goal of the game. "I think I've hit all of my game-winners at that end. … You kind of bring yourself back to certain kicks. I knew if I hit it to the right upright and everyone else did their job, which they did all game, we were going to have a chance to win it. You just trust your lines. It's the same old end zone down there for me."

Funny, after the Bears opened the scoring Sunday on Cutler's 7-yard pass to Eddie Royal, Gould's PAT kick was blocked by Denico Autry. In a tight game, the miss loomed potentially large.

"I probably just hit it low," Gould said.

Early in the fourth, kicking from nearly the identical distance as his game-winner, Gould drilled a 54-yard field goal that put the Bears up 19-17. That helped him.

"It was the same kind of hash," Gould said. "(Offensive coordinator Adam) Gase did a great job of putting it in the middle of the left hash."

Who knows? Maybe the Bears' first win will spur them heading into Sunday's game at Kansas City.

"Usually those type of wins catapult a team," Gould said.

That's your confident kicker, as always.