SANTA CLARA, Calif. -- In a 13-year career mostly full of consistent success, San Francisco 49ers kicker Robbie Gould has done a little bit of everything. He has kicked for winning teams. He has kicked for losing teams. He has been released. He has played in a Super Bowl.

Through all of that, it's now, in his first season with the Niners on a 4-10 team that he's having as much fun as ever, a surprising revelation he offered after kicking a game-winning 45-yard field goal against the Tennessee Titans on Sunday.

“This is one of, if not my favorite season I’ve ever played in 13 years," Gould said. "Some people might say, ‘Your record is what it is.’ I think there’s something to be said about the brick by brick that [coach] Kyle [Shanahan] and [general manager] John [Lynch] are putting together. It’s pretty fun to watch it all kind of jell, get out there every Sunday knowing you have a chance to win. Guys are excited about playing."

Robbie Gould celebrates his career-high sixth field goal of the game, which won another for the Niners. Jason O. Watson/Getty Images

For a team that has won three in a row and four of its past five, there's plenty of reason for excitement for the Niners as they complete this season and look toward a promising 2018. Perhaps nobody in the Niners' locker room has more reason to be happy these days than Gould, a veteran who has quietly become one of the best free-agent signings of the 2017 offseason.

With a perfect 6-for-6 performance on field goals against the Titans, including that aforementioned game-winner, Gould has continued to bolster a strong case that he has been the best kicker in the league this season. Those career-high six makes in a game gave Gould 20 in a row (second-longest streak in team history) and gave him 15 makes in the past three games, allowing him to become the first kicker to make that many field goals in three consecutive games in league history, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.

That was also the third game this season in which Gould made five or more field goals, making him just the second player in league history to have that many games with five or more field goal conversions in one season.

“I think Robbie is playing as good as anyone I’ve had," Shanahan said. "When he goes out there, I never think he’s going to miss it. He’s been automatic. I’m glad he’s not getting too fatigued. I wish we didn’t have to use him so much. I wish we were scoring touchdowns more, but the fact that every time we don’t he makes it. He’s been unbelievable this year.”

Given Gould's track record of NFL success, it shouldn't be a surprise that he has been so successful, but considering where he was just a little more than a year ago, his return to prominence has become a story worth telling. After the Chicago Bears, the only team he'd known since entering the league in 2005, surprisingly released him before the 2016 season, Gould caught on with the New York Giants. He played there before hitting free agency again in the offseason.

Gould didn't take his free agency lightly, though, as he took time to re-evaluate his entire approach to his job and sought out the perfect situation for his next job. When the 49ers called, it didn't take long for Gould to connect the dots. He had a relationship with Shanahan from a chance meeting they'd had at the NFL combine seven years prior. He also knew assistant special teams coach Stan Kwan, who was the first coach ever to work him out, and Gould had been with special teams coordinator Richard Hightower in Chicago.

In all of those coaches as well as long snapper Kyle Nelson and holder Bradley Pinion, Gould felt he could get something he desperately wanted: unfiltered feedback on his performance. San Francisco checked all of those boxes.

"I wanted to go to a place where I felt comfortable," Gould said. "I wanted to go to a place where people are going to be honest with me. At the end of the day I knew if you looked at the roster it had a lot of talent. Just a matter of 70 new guys could come together and how fast that could happen."

For the season, Gould has made 36-of-38 field goal tries, a new career-high, topping his previous high of 33. Those 36 field goals also rank second in franchise history. He's also 4-of-4 on the season when attempting field goals of 50-plus yards.

Whether Gould will get to go to the Pro Bowl remains to be seen considering the success of Rams kicker Greg Zuerlein. Gould's 127 points are fourth in the NFL and second in the NFC, trailing only Zuerlein, who has a whopping 158.

Chances are Zuerlein will be chosen ahead of Gould, but with the Rams poised for a playoff berth it's possible Gould still could go as an alternate. For now, none of that is of much concern to Gould, who just wants to continue to help his team any way possible, finish this season on a strong note and lay a foundation for the future.

“You want to play playoff football? You’ve got to make every kick and every point count," Gould said. "My favorite part as a kicker making a kick like that is watching the other sideline go completely silent to be honest with you. I usually talk to myself before I get ready to go kick those kicks. The kicks that I need to go up by one, or the kicks we need to extend it by 10, I usually kind of get myself excited. It’s a team that you want to beat because you want to know that you can have a chance to make the playoffs next year. The guys in the locker room have worked every day, Monday through Sunday, grinding for a long time to start getting this winning feeling. You’re seeing some of that come together in a winning streak. I think we’ve won four of the last five or something like that. It’s pretty fun to be in there with that group of guys.”

Regardless of the record.