San Francicso 49ers kicker Jake Moody could’ve crawled into the San Andreas Fault and still not had enough cover for the heat he took following a bad game that’s about to cap an equally poor season.
Moody missed two field goals and an extra point before comically butchering an onside kick in his team’s 40-34 loss to the visiting Detroit Lions on “Monday Night Football.”
“Definitely probably one of the lowest times in my career dating back to when I first started football,” a downcast Moody told reporters after the disastrous game in Santa Clara. “Confidence, you know, you got to keep it high. You have no other choice as a kicker. You got to stay confident in yourself.”
By Tuesday morning, his name was still trending on X as 49ers fans piled on Moody, holding him up as a symbol of their team’s terrible fall from grace in 2024.
After three consecutive appearances in the NFC title game, San Francisco has fallen into last place in the NFC West this season. Though the 49ers had already been eliminated from playoff contention before Monday night, Moody’s missteps on national TV seemed to galvanize frustrated Niners faithful.
- The Niners played well in the first half and could’ve taken a two-score lead into the dressing room, but Moody failed to connect on a 51-yard attempt with seconds left in the second quarter.
- Detroit roared back in the third quarter to take a 31-28 when Moody misfired on a potential tying kick from 58 yards out, early in the final period.
- After missing an extra point with 50 seconds left, Moody had one last chance to help his team with an onside kick. While the odds of success on such a desperation play are low, Moody inexplicably drilled his attempt straight out of bounds, giving teammates no chance to recover it.
After that first missed field goal, “Monday Night Football” cameras caught 49ers tight end George Kittle exchanging encouraging words with Moody on the sidelines.
“He patted me on the back and said, ‘Do you believe in yourself?’” Moody later revealed. “I said, ‘Yes.’ He said, ‘Well I believe in you then.’”
Kittle, one of his team’s most respected players, said he’s still confident in Moody, who came to San Francisco as an unusually high — for a kicker — third-round pick of the 2023 draft.
“I’m a huge fan of Jake,” Kittle said. “He’s made some big kicks for us when we’ve needed them. Tonight was a really tough night for him. I feel horrible for him. I know his expectations for himself are higher than that. And all I said was, ‘Hey man, you got great kicks ahead of you. Just keep going. Keep believing in yourself.'”
Moody is 21-of-32 this season and his 71.9% conversion rate is among the lowest in pro football. His nine misses are tied for the most in the NFL with Cleveland’s Dustin Hopkins (17-of-26).
