Apparently, we have to do this again.

So, let me try a different tactic.

After the Niners’ last preseason game, I used this very space to publicly excoriate John Lynch and Kyle Shanahan for keeping kicker Jake Moody on the roster.

Clearly, it didn’t land. They went into the season with Moody.

How’d that work out?

I, like so many of you, foresaw what was going to happen if the Niners stayed on course. And it looked an awful lot like Sunday’s season debut.

No, San Francisco didn’t lose the opener to the Seahawks in Seattle. But Moody’s missed chip-shot field goal changed the entire tenor of the game.

You pair that with the bad kickoffs and the generally woeful special teams play, and the decision is a no-brainer: the Niners need to make a change at kicker.

Because it’s undeniable that any other NFL kicker, if he had only made 12 of his last 21 kicks, would be out of a job right now.

Why is Moody an exception?

It’s not personal. It’s business. Moody was hired to do one job, and he’s only doing it half the time.

So why is Moody still around if not for Shanahan and Lynch’s pride?

It’s hard to admit you’re wrong. I’d say “I get it,” but I’m so rarely wrong, I don’t actually know. (Pause for laughter …)

And the Niners’ intent was good, if a little unorthodox. San Francisco used a third-round pick on a kicker they believed would hold the starting job for more than a decade. They thought they were getting one over on the NFL, where teams are flying by the seat of their pants at the position, despite it being every team’s leading scorer.

(Again, pause for laughter.)

The Niners’ brass was wrong then. They’re still wrong today.

Delaying admitting that doesn’t make them any less wrong.

Shanahan dodged dragging his kicker after Sunday’s game, which was the classy thing to do in the moment, saying, “I’m trying to finish today, get on a plane and evaluate stuff, and go back at it.

That only kicked this decision to the next day. Unlike Moody, the Niners can’t miss on this one.

But just in case, here’s where I make my new argument: If you don’t want to cut Moody for yourself, do it for him.

Moody is a mess. You know it’s bad when the TV cameras keep cutting to close-up shots of a kicker, and the FOX director had a field day with those Sunday. And in those shots, you see a guy whose head is spinning as he stares into a half-distance. He radiates anxiety on the sideline. I’m surprised he hasn’t broken out in full-body hives, he looks so stressed out.

I might not have been a kicker, but I know enough of them to know that it’s too exacting an art for anyone to perform well in that state of mind.

And the longer Moody is on this team, the worse the situation will become.

It’s really simple, now: Moody will never be the kicker the Niners want him to be as long as he is a Niner.

I’m not saying his high-pick draft status and the pressure of playing for a high-profile team are the singular sources of his problems, but they sure as hell aren’t helping.

He needs to do what so many kickers around the league have done: roam and find a new home.

But he can’t do that until the Niners release him.

John. Kyle. Consider it an act of mercy. Give Moody the clean slate and new start he desperately needs if his career is to amount to anything.

Because as it stands, San Francisco can only upgrade at the kicker position — there are a dozen kickers without jobs right now who can make you more than 12 of 23.

Would Shanahan have let some random kicker come in and tie the game on a fourth-quarter fourth-and-2 from the Seattle 12-yard line?

He wouldn’t let Moody on Sunday.

Doesn’t that say it all?

Seriously, things couldn’t be worse, so why not change them?

Sure, playing kicker roulette might require a bit more work, but isn’t a little work (holding tryouts, actually watching those tryouts, having to learn a new name) worth saving yourself the deep-seated aggravation that seems to be omnipresent when Moody is on the field?

KNBR had a good tweet (yes, sports talk radio and good tweets still exist) Sunday showing the broadcast shot of Shanahan holding back from having a meltdown on the sideline (another great sign …) after Moody’s chip-shot doink.

“When dad almost loses it but restrains himself.”

As the father of two kids under three years old, I felt seen in that tweet.

But here’s the difference between my girls and Jake Moody:

I can’t cut my kids.

The Niners can cut Moody. The best time to do it was before the season. The next-best time is now.

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