San Francisco 49ers roster

Even after less than one full season, I can honestly say that Mike Singletary is the best coach the 49ers have had since Bill Walsh. Yes, even better than George Seifert who won two Super Bowls and won 76.6 percent of the games the 49ers played.

Singletary really impressed me on how he handled the team. What he wants is completely different than what previous coach Mike Nolan wanted from the team, and it showed with the inspired play of the team since he took over during week eight of the season.

Yes, the 49ers did get manhandled in his first game as coach, but after the bye week the team really played well. Their defense finally showed up and offensively Shaun Hill showed poise at the quarterback position not seen since Jeff Garcia ran the 49ers.

Furthermore you could make the argument that out of all the professional sports in the Bay Area, Singletary would rank as the best coach.

The main thing that separates Singletary from other coaches is his coaching style. Singletary demands maximum effort as well as discipline, but most of all he's passionate about what he does. No other manager in the Bay Area is as demanding as Singletary and shows as much passion.

There was a report from the 49ers locker room in regards to Singletary dropping his pants at halftime trying to make a point about how embarrassing the 49ers were playing.

This was just his first game as coach for the 49ers.

Somehow you knew that the 49ers would respond and they did. After the bye week, the 49ers went 5-3 under Singletary. Including Hill showing his ability to complete 49ers comebacks.

Still, maybe the best example of Singletary style is what happened with Vernon Davis. Davis, took a stupid penalty after a play was over so he was sent to the bench, but had a sulky attitude so Singletary told him to shower and get dressed.

Even after the game you could see how frustrated Singletary was with Davis. Here's the clip

of Singletary responding to a question about Davis.

With that clip you can see how passionate Singletary is about football. He wants his players to play smart and not take stupid selfish penalties. That's basically what he stated in response to Davis's penalty.

After the season ended, offensive coordinator Mike Martz was let go. Jimmy Raye was hired to take over as offensive coordinator.

Matthew Barrows wrote an article on the Sacramento Bee website entitled "49ers Allowed to take Chances Under New Regime." What I got from this is that Nolan did not allow the 49ers to take chances.

Mike Martz didn't have any audibles, but Raye's new system allows the 49ers to be more aggressive. They've made some changes specifically naming 24 year old Dashon Goldson starting free safety. Goldson has shown an eye for the ball, has good instincts, and in recent practices has been an interception machine.

Meanwhile the man he replaced, Mark Roman, hasn't had an interception in three seasons since being named starting free safety. Nolan preached being in position and not gambling, whereas Singletary requires discipline, but will allow a player to take risks to make a big play.

On the offensive side, Shaun Hill and Alex Smith have been encouraged to audible, something that didn't exist last year under Martz.

The new found aggression on both sides of the ball leads me to believe that the 49ers have a definite shot at winning the NFC West. It is also known that Singletary wants more of a smash mouth style offense, which means seeing a lot more of Frank Gore and that is definitely a good thing.

Maybe I'm exaggerating a little bit by claiming that Singletary is the best coach the 49ers have had since Walsh. I honestly believe in next few years under the leadership of Singletary, the 49ers are going to get back to their winning ways and this includes back to the Super Bowl!

Just to refresh your collective memories here's the list of coaches the 49ers have had since Walsh:

George Seifert: As I mentioned before, he had a great winning percentage and won two Super Bowls as 49ers coach. Yet, Seifert took over a team that had already been together and had won three Superbowls including one the year before Seifert took over.

Steve Mariucci: After George Seifert left, Mariucci took over. He did get the 49ers into the playoffs, but his problem was that the team was not disciplined. He was constantly called out by players for going too easy on opponents and also for the 49ers not being able to advance further into the playoffs. Under the direction of Mariucci, there were no Super Bowl appearances.

Dennis Erickson: After Mariucci was fired, the 49ers hired Dennis Erickson, who has always been successful as a college coach but never at the NFL level. The 49ers did not have a winning season in the two years that Erickson was coach.

Mike Nolan: Nolan had plenty of problems while running the 49ers. For example as I stated, Nolan's defenses were hardly ever aggressive. They rarely blitzed and that caused problems because the 49ers did not possess a good pass rush and the defense was constantly picked apart.

Also, the 49ers didn't have a steady offensive coordinator in his time as coach. There was hope after a 7-9 season, but the 49ers quickly faltered once Norv Turner left. He was finally fired in the 2008 season after going 2-5 and the team not showing much progress.