How Much is Singletary to Blame?

I think that Jed pulled the trigger too quickly on the hiring of Singletary. Had he waited a few weeks, he would have seen that Shanahan was available and maybe could have convinced Cowher or Holmgren to come out of retirement.

Coach Sing definitely has his faults, but you can’t question his impact on the team. Just listen to the players when they speak about the games/team/players. They always preach Coach Sing’s philosophy and have all bought into his ideals. The X’s and O’s certainly have been questionable, but his intentions and ability to get the best out of his players is a great attribute.

The players need to execute no matter who is calling the plays. Fumbles, dropped passes, missed tackles…all of those things are not the fault of the coaches. No one questioned Walsh when Montana threw an INT or when Roger Craig fumbled. We just need to remember that these athletes are paid to do what they do…and heavily. The minute they screw up or fail at their job, they need to be held accountable.

Overall, its a pretty even split accross players, coaches and front office on why the Niners haven’t made a playoff push in the last 7 years. But I don’t think we are far away. A few changes on all sides and we are right there. I will back all decisions made because I support the team, but I don’t think one person or even one department is to blame.

The players need to execute no matter who is calling the plays. Fumbles, dropped passes, missed tackles…all of those things are not the fault of the coaches.

I respectfully disagree. Good coaching = Good execution.

A dropped pass here, a blown assignment there, a poor PR all individually are the fault of the individual players involved. But when you all of those things happening multiple times on a given Sunday like the last game or even worse the ATL game and that points to something more serious ~ questionable coaching.

Singletary is not lacking in this department. Only when it comes to the offense. He allows his coordinators to do their job. The only blame to be issued is to the players and the FO of recent years for not even having an initial core of OL. I would say that within the first 3 years of being a GM you would have at lease 3 starters on the OL that will be there and capable for the next 3 to 4 years. Our O-Line is in shambles and this game is won in the trenches. This league is cause and effect, let me explain, Since we are weak in trenches on the OL the offense can’t use a lot of clock hence our defensive lapse in several 4th quarters and yo can also lay the offensive production at the feet of the LOLine as well. Kentwan Balmer will remain to be the worst draft selection on this team currently IMHO. Not taking anything from him or Crabtree (2nd worst) but there were other position of needs that needed to be addressed and the effect of those needs not being addressed is our inability to close out teams running the ball and our nack for giving up the big sack and turnovers.

… but you know what? It was his rookie year.

I remember reading – I think on FO – that changing coaches usually results, in the short term, on teams getting worse by a small amount. (This is unlike baseball, where a manager change usually bumps a team up a few wins). Continuity matters.

If you like a guy enough to hire him, you absolutely, positively, have to give him two years, barring overwhelming indications of incompetence. You can NOT expect head coaches to drop out of the gates perfect at their new job – they’re entitled to rookie mistakes – and you have to give them a little time to put their system together.

A couple of examples:

Bill Walsh took over a 2-14 team. His next year, “the genius” got the team all the way to … 2-14. The next year, a man who is arguably the most brilliant coach in the history of football took his team to … 6-10.

You rush to judgements there, you fire him.

Bill Bellichek? Greatest coach of the ‘oughts?’ He had three losing seasons as a head coach before he got his team to the postseason. In his second go-around, he took over an 8-8 team and made it WORSE in his first year. Tony Dungy’s first HC job saw his team get worse for a year before it got better.

I could go on. Obviously, I am not claiming that Singletary is a coach of that caliber. My point is merely: if he was, how the heck would we know?

So I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: two years is the MINIMUM a new coach has to get, and even then, in that second year, while you expect to see progress, it’s okay if that progress comes in a form other than wins (which are often the last thing to show up).

We’ll win the divsion next year watch.

Cards: 1-3 rest of the year
Niners: 4-0
Packers at Niners at the ‘Stick!
(must be the ganja, it’s the marijuana…)

Bill Walsh took over a 2-14 team. His next year, "the genius" got the team all the way to … 2-14. The next year, a man who is arguably the most brilliant coach in the history of football took his team to … 6-10.
You rush to judgements there, you fire him.

In you focus on Won-Loss, you start thinking about blame and how badly things have gone…

If you focus on player development, however, you see the amazingly positive trajectory of this team:
Alex Smith
Michael Crabtree
Vernon Davis
Delanie Walker
Josh Morgan
all on very positive trajectories.

Also Staley and, i believe, Rachal, on offense.

On defense:
Willis, Haralson, Brooks, Lawson, Spencer, McDonald
are all young and improving under good coaching.
(Veterans Smith, Franklin and Sopoaga are staying solid as well.)

I see a young team with a young coach on a very positive trajectory.

In response to the encouragement from urnext, i thought of a criticism.

In the Minnesota game, on the final drive, I thought the defensive line looked tired. Favre had way too much time. One good hit on him, and that game is over. My feeling at that time was that we did not have a deep enough of a defensive line rotation, and that allowed our pass-rushers to tire, which effected the outcome of that game.

I would assign the responsibility to the coaches, ultimately to Singletary. I think that this issue has been addressed to some degree: with Haralson, McDonald, Smith and Brooks as the passing down front 4, and rotation in of Lawson and and a veteran lineman whose name escapes me at the moment. (i know Lawson also starts in base.)

I am a big believer in a deep rotation for the pass-defense defensive line, so that the pass rush is fresh and aggressive toward the end of games. This year the problem is aggravated by a very weak oline which causes the defense to be on the field for about 15 more plays that we would like to game-plan for.

Singletary has lost close games (for example) IN Minnesota (10-2) and IN Indianapolis (12-0).

With a team that clearly has LESS talent than those two teams.

Yeah, that’s UNFORGIVABLE.

Too funny.

he has focus, he has knowledge,
he has leadership, most of all, he has character.
What he needs now is a few horses to run the race."

(who said that?)