SANTA CLARA — The 49ers are not ready to turn the page on kicker Jake Moody, yet.
“He’s going to kick this final game,” 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan said Tuesday on a conference call with Bay Area reporters.
Moody missed field-goal attempts of 51 and 58 yards, as well as an extra point, in the 49ers’ 40-34 loss to the Detroit Lions on "Monday Night Football."
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Moody admitted his confidence has reached a low point.
“Definitely one of the lowest times of my career,” he said, “dating back to when I first started football. So confidence, you just have to keep it high. You have no other choice as a kicker.
“You just have to keep staying confident in yourself, otherwise you have nothing. So (I) have to stay confident and just keep going from here.”
The operation of the two field-goal attempts was good, Shanahan said. But the execution between snapper Taybor Pepper and holder Pat O’Donnell was off on the extra point.
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“That was the only one that wasn’t clean,” Shanahan said. “He still needs to make it. But that was the one that wasn’t a clean hold and snap, which made that one a lot tougher.”
The 49ers invested a third-round pick (No. 99 overall) to select Moody in the 2023 NFL Draft.
He made 13 of his first 14 field-goal attempts this season before sustaining a high right ankle sprain while making a tackle on a kickoff in the 49ers’ Week 5 loss to the Arizona Cardinals.
Moody missed three games, and he has been wildly inconsistent ever since his return. The second-year kicker is just 10 of 18 on field-goal attempts in the 49ers’ previous eight games.
He will finish off the season on Sunday against the Cardinals, then the 49ers likely will bring in competition for Moody in the offseason.
As a rookie, Moody made 21 of 25 field-goal attempts during the regular season. He was 6 for 8 in the postseason, including makes from 55 and 53 yards in the Super Bowl. But he also had an extra point blocked in the 49ers’ 25-22 overtime loss to the Kansas City Chiefs.