Judging Mike Singletary

I know it's only one game, way too early to form an opinion of Mike Singletary's head coaching abilities. Remember what all of us Redskin's fans thought about Zorn after the Giants game? But, I saw a few things today that really soured me on Mike. I blogged just a few days ago about how I thought Singletary would make a great coach, and would light a fire under the 49er's. After watching his antics today, I think he might be taking this "light a fire" stuff too far. Here are the things that I saw while watching the game today that bothered me.

Down 13-3 with :31 seconds left in the first half, the 49ers had the ball on the Seattle 29 yard line, facing a 4th and 4. The 49er's called timeout. During this timeout the cameras focused on Singletary, his Offensive Coordinator Mike Martz, and his QB JT O'Sullivan. Singletary asked Martz, "what do you want to do?". Martz said "go for it". Without hesitation, Singletary went with Martz's recommendation. Mind you, a FG brings you within a touchdown to start the third quarter. On the ensuing play, O'Sullivan threw an interception that was returned 75 yds for a TD. On the interception TD return, Vernon Davis almost tackled the defender after sprinting his ass off for 80 yards! Keep this in mind for part 2.

After a silly penalty in the 4th quarter by Davis, Singletary pulls him out of the game. OK, good move. Singletary then follows this up by escorting Davis to the bench and directs him to sit down like he is a 5 year old in time out. This was not enough however, as a few minutes later Singletary directed Davis to the locker room. This was still not enough. Singletary decided to call out his TE in the post game press conference. And for the record, I am no fan of Davis.

Look, I'm all for making your mark on the team. I'm all for dressing down a player (who probably is a distraction). I'm all for making an example of somebody. But do not do it in the media, or in front of 50,000 people in the stands, or on national TV.

Mike, your a hard ass, we know this. It's why you were voted to the Pro Bowl 10 times. It's what made you a Hall of Famer. But don't make your mark this way. I'm pretty sure that the 10 years that you spent being a motivational speaker never involved a speech about degrading a man in public.

I hope Singletary turns around the 49er's, and I hope he leaves his door open when his players want to speak to him.

Cheers and Hail