The San Francisco 49ers are 5-0, and nothing in their early run suggests the momentum is about to disappear. Washington Commanders and Atlanta Falcons are up next, and neither matchup looks like the kind that should suddenly knock them off course.
But one part of this roster has been shaky all season, and it’s easy to see that becoming the thing that finally trips them up: Eddy Pineiro.
The kicking game has already been an issue, even if it hasn’t shown up in the loss column. Pineiro has had his misses, and the way this season is going, that feels like the clearest path to San Francisco taking its first defeat.
It could be a missed extra point and a missed field goal. It could be multiple misses in either category.
However it happens, the danger is the same.
Pineiro has been living on the edge, and the 49ers have been fortunate that his shaky moments haven’t cost them yet. But if San Francisco does stumble, he looks like the most obvious culprit. He’s arguably been their biggest liability, and the only reason it hasn’t turned into a bigger story is because the team keeps winning.
There’s even a version of this where the Seahawks game became the warning sign. If Pineiro had missed the game-winning field goal against Seattle, the conversation around him would be far uglier. That kick nearly went sideways anyway, and the lack of a clean strike made the miss potential hard to ignore.
It’s not at the Jake Moody level, but it’s still a concern. And it creates a simple problem for the 49ers: they cannot let games turn into a test of whether Pineiro can be trusted from kick to kick.
The Los Angeles Rams found out the hard way on Monday Night Football against the Buffalo Bills. Sean McVay put the game in his kicker’s hands, and it ended in a loss.
The situations aren’t identical, since that kick was blocked and the Rams have the worst special teams unit in the league. Still, the lesson is the same: if you’re relying on an unreliable kicker, you’re playing with fire.
That’s the danger facing San Francisco. Brock Purdy could always have one of his multi-interception games, and the defense could have a rough outing. But if the 49ers do get burned for the first time, Pineiro is the name that stands out.
They can’t afford to let a game come down to him. And if this keeps going, that’s exactly the kind of ending they may be forced to live with.
In Other News...
49ers Get A Serious Keion White Shooting Case Update
A months-long investigation into the shooting that injured 49ers defensive end Keion White has moved forward with San Francisco police announcing four arrests tied to the case. The effort, dubbed Operation D-Line, included more than 50 search warrants and involved over 250 law enforcement personnel, with drugs and firearms recovered during the operation.
For a team that has already had to navigate the on-field fallout from the incident, the developments bring the matter back into the spotlight in a more concrete way. The suspects were arrested between Oct. 7 and Oct. 9, underscoring how long the case has taken to unwind after White was injured in the shooting earlier this year. [Read more 🡒]
Why The 49ers Offense Looks Even Scarier Than Fans Realize
Through five weeks, the 49ers have looked like one of the NFLs most efficient offenses, piling up 30.8 points and 365 yards per game while keeping quarterback Brock Purdy and the rest of Kyle Shanahans group on schedule. With Mike Evans stretching defenses, George Kittle working the middle, and Christian McCaffrey and Kaelon Black adding balance in the backfield, San Francisco has paired explosiveness with the kind of rhythm that makes every drive feel threatening.
What makes the numbers even more alarming for opponents is how rarely the offense hurts itself. The 49ers are one of the leagues cleanest units, and once they get near the goal line, they finish with ruthless consistency. That combination of staying ahead of the sticks and turning scoring chances into touchdowns is a big reason Shanahans play-calling has looked so hard to solve, and it leaves little comfort for anyone trying to slow this group down. [Read more 🡒]
49ers Have An Uncomfortable Eddy Pieiro Problem Brewing
Eddy Pieiro has quietly become one of the first uneasy storylines around an otherwise undefeated 49ers start. The kicker delivered when it mattered with a 43-yard field goal recently, but the broader picture is harder to ignore: his field-goal and extra-point percentages are down from last season, and the early misses have chipped away at the sort of steady trust the 49ers hoped they were buying into.
Pieiro already has five missed kicks on the season, matching his total from all of last year, and that kind of wobble tends to draw attention fast in a place that expects to contend. The Niners are winning enough to keep the issue from becoming a crisis, but the inconsistency is real enough to linger, especially with so much of the margin in close games often coming down to one swing of the leg. [Read more 🡒]