diff --git a/vp9/encoder/vp9_firstpass.c b/vp9/encoder/vp9_firstpass.c
index ddcf849cede74c207d8b26b70879bcf1f3ef0181..0561efef9fb9a429b4645b24aeac0d9fdca33ff2 100644
--- a/vp9/encoder/vp9_firstpass.c
+++ b/vp9/encoder/vp9_firstpass.c
@@ -522,6 +522,8 @@ void vp9_first_pass(VP9_COMP *cpi) {
       xd->plane[2].dst.buf = new_yv12->v_buffer + recon_uvoffset;
       xd->left_available = (mb_col != 0);
 
+      xd->mode_info_context->mbmi.sb_type = BLOCK_SIZE_MB16X16;
+
       // do intra 16x16 prediction
       this_error = vp9_encode_intra(cpi, x, use_dc_pred);