We're back for the second week of the Jim Harbaugh Approval Rating and thankfully we've got a graphic this week. We should be past the Jim Schwartz incident at this point, but there is something particularly amusing about Coach Harbaugh's post-game response about how he shook his hand a little too hard. There's something about that, sort of like, "Jim Schwartz is a Girly-mahhnn!" (said in Arnold voice). Yes, our coach is kind of a badass.

But beyond the post-game nonsense, it was a tough, grinder of a game and the 49ers handled their business appropriately. The team is now 5-1 and has won games in a variety of ways thus far. They blew out Tampa, had a big comeback against Philadelphia, hung on for a tough comeback in a rowdy Ford Field. They even have learned some things from the Dallas loss.

I actually think this coming weeks contest against the Cleveland Browns will be a big test for Coach Harbaugh. The 49ers are on top of the world right now and coming off a bye week. While the team is not perfect, they are taking care of business and getting wins. We've discussed the over-confidence issue, but with a week to prepare against a Browns team that is not bad but is not particularly great, it will be interesting to see how the 49ers come out of the gates.

Coach Harbaugh is always talking about taking things one day at a time, one game at a time, and so forth. Well, when it comes to tests for the rookie coach, consider this the next test on the docket. How will Coach Harbaugh handle it?

I made a slight tweak to the wording of the poll. 1 is worst job possible, 10 is a perfect performance to date. Last week, 53% gave him a 10 and 92% gave him an 8 or better.

The past couple years we had an approval rating post for head coach Mike Singletary. Through good and bad the approval level went up and down like a roller coaster. We have not yet had such a poll for Jim Harbaugh in part because he was just starting out and most people generally approved of the hiring.

Five weeks into the season, Harbaugh has the 49ers at 4-1 and heading into a big matchup with the Detroit Lions. I wanted to get the approval rating to give us an idea of where we are at during the good times. I don't think the season is on the verge of falling apart (knock on wood), but if the 49ers do start to lose some games here and there, I'd like to know where the approval rating peaked, if it has in fact peaked yet.

As we started to do last year, we are going with a 1-10 scale since that gives us a bit better idea of how people feel about Harbaugh. My guess is virtually everybody would say yes in a "Do you approve of the job Harbaugh has done" type of poll. However, seeing how many people give him a 10 versus a 9 or 8 is a little more valuable.

Please feel free to include a comment as to why you voted the way you did.

195 years ago, French Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte was defeated by an Anglo-Allied army under the command of the Duke Ellington of Wellington combined with a separate Prussian army. Napoleon had made a return to power after being exiled and this battle culminated the Waterloo campaign, his last battle before returning to a final exile.

I'm certainly not here to compare Mike Singletary to Napoleon. However, I found myself last night wondering whether this Sunday's game against the Seahawks might be his Waterloo as coach of the San Francisco 49ers. If it was, it would certainly be fitting considering his first game as head coach came in a home game against the Seahawks a little over two seasons ago.

Until recently, I was convinced Jed York was going to stick with Mike Singletary through the end of the season. I questioned whether there was a viable alternative as an interim coach, and I felt York was going to wait to get through the emotions of what has been a grueling season. Personally, I didn't want to see another interim coach catch fire to close the season and potentially force ownerships hands. This last reason for not wanting the firing to happen in season is less and less of an issue as each week passes.

However, Jed's recent comments about the team still having a chance at the playoffs got me thinking about the possibility that Singletary could be axed sooner rathe than later. Jed has made several comments following tough losses in which he indicates the team still has a chance to win the NFC West and there will be no changes. As long as the team is in the playoff race that's certainly all well and good and it probably makes sense to wait in that case.

However, what happens if the 49ers lose on Sunday and are officially eliminated from playoff contention? Does that sufficiently change the dynamic of the season in Jed's eyes? At that point, with the NFC West impossible to win, will we see a change made? It certainly would give Jed York reason to change his stance on a change given that the playoffs are no longer a possibility.

I'm certainly not here rooting for a loss at this point. However, I'm curious about the fallout of such a potential loss.

And we're back for the latest edition of the Mike Singletary approval rating. We last conducted these rankings two days after the 49ers victory over the Broncos in London and it's interesting to note that Singletary received arguably his worst rating ever as head coach after this victory. Normally he gets a post-victory bounce, but this one saw him finish with 62% of voters giving him a 1 out of 10.

The 49ers are now coming off a game in which they got the victory but once again it seemed like the coaching staff was getting handled by the opposition for much of the game. The luck finally seemed to fall the 49ers way after a half season of a lot of bad luck (and bad play and bad coaching of course). The most notable instances are the Delanie Walker pass interference penalty and the two times Brandon Gibson decided to cut east/west, when north/south would have gotten him at least one first down and maybe a second.

The Walker penalty wasn't a horrendous call, but the 49ers did benefit big time from that. The Gibson plays though just boggled my mind. Gibson is only a second year receiver, so I guess these things will happen. But he certainly learned a huge lesson about field awareness and knowing where the chains are. If he converts even one of those first downs, it's entirely possible we're talking about a 49ers loss.

Of course, Mike Singletary has no control over a knuckle-headed play by an opposing wide receiver. What I do find myself wondering is this: say the 49ers start to find themselves benefitting form good luck. They played horribly at times in the first half of the season but they also had a lot of things bounce badly for them. If things start to bounce their way a little more frequently this team could find itself right in the thick of the playoff race (or at least more so than now). If the team battled back, would anybody be surprised to see Mike Singletary back at the helm next year?

If somehow Troy Smith proves himself to be the answer this season and this team fights its way back into the playoff picture, are Troy Smith, Mike Singletary, and Mike Johnson a package deal for the 49ers? I suppose that sounds a little ridiculous. But if this team does in fact turn the corner and salvage this season, I can already picture the headlines when Jed York decides to keep Singletary, but they have a closed-door meeting to discuss "the future."

If the 49ers turn things around (still a bit of a long shot) it might be difficult for Jed York to look for a new coach, whatever the reason is for the turnaround. It's all mindless speculation on my part at this time. I suppose we should just ride out the season and take it from there.

This week marks the 49ers 2010 bye week and also the midpoint of their season as they've now played eight games this season. I thought we'd use the bye week to bring back some past approval polls. Last year we ran a Jimmy Raye Approval Rating, and it seems only fair that Mike Johnson gets a poll. As we've started doing with Coach Singletary, I'm going to do this as a 1-10 poll to try and flesh out the gray area in the rating.

One drawback to any poll at this point is the potentially temporary change at the QB position. Does the use of Troy Smith this past Sunday affect your opinion of Mike Johnson's performance as offensive coordinator. In Tuesday's Mike Singletary Approval Rating I mentioned how some folks were jumping on Johnson in such short time, but nobody really went after the bait. Troy Smith or no Troy Smith, I do think the offense has improved under Mike Johnson. There are still some fairly key issues that must be addressed. The most important, in my mind, is figuring out how best to spell Frank Gore. However, getting consistent offensive line play could help fix a lot of problems.

I will say that when it comes to actual play-calling, there has been improvement. The need to establish the run still exists, but at least we're seeing some outside pitches. This past week saw a wide variety of intriguing play-calls, most notably the quick slants that gave Troy Smith some confidence. Of course, we find ourselves once again in some kind of holding pattern as far as what to expect from the offense given the lack of updated information about Alex Smith's shoulder. I remain convinced we'll get one more week of Troy Smith. If that's the case, it will be interesting to see how much more Coach Johnson opens up the playbook for Troy Smith.

We're back for another week of the Mike Singletary Approval Rating following the 49ers 24-16 victory over the Denver Broncos at Wembley Stadium in London. The 49ers have improved to 2-6 and the roller coaster that is 2010 is climbing back up. The team has a bye this week and then settle in for a now tough divisional matchup with the St. Louis Rams.

Generally in those polls, when the 49ers get a victory, Mike Singletary gets a bump in the ratings. And yet, there remain a lot of question marks about how the team is operating even when they manage to get a win. Some of that can be traced to some of the assistant coaches, but naturally when the buck stops with the head coach, blame will often fall on him.

Although I've got this poll up asking for a rating, I'm curious about something else. Although we haven't polled it, I'd imagine a sizable chunk of this site would prefer a new coach in 2011. Some want Singletary gone now while others would be fine waiting until the offseason. What I'm curious about is what it would take, in your opinion, to keep Mike Singletary around beyond the 2010 season. As I look at what's gone down, I honestly don't know if I want him back with the 49ers in 2011.

Of course, the fact that I'm even on the fence in any way shows how little patience we have as fans. You can see a microcosm of that in how quickly people turn on Mike Johnson mid-game when the offense struggles. He's shown improvements in the play selection, but in an era where most people feel a need for instant gratification, we want more, more, more.

Would the 49ers have to rally for a playoff spot? A playoff spot and a win? If the team finished 9-7 but didn't make the playoffs, would such a 1-game improvement in record be enough?

Last week we brought back the Mike Singletary approval rating for the first time since week one, only this time it was a rating of 1 to 10 instead of a simple yes, no poll. Given all the negativity on the site the last couple days I was hesitant to post this poll. However, having a poll last week after a win without a follow-up after a loss would make less week's poll all the more insignificant. Might as well see how much of last week was a post-victory bump. Everybody please play nice in the comments.

Of course, this week might very well be a post-loss dive. I'm sure this happens to many fan-bases, but it certainly seems like we've had a roller-coaster ride here at Niners Nation. We've been in existence since the last week of December 2006. One could argue that in terms of in-season excitement, we might have actually peaked during that initial week. Ever since that time it seems like we've gone into seasons with a lot of excitement and things went in the crapper shortly thereafter, with this season being only the latest such example.

We've basically spent much of the last decade in the proverbial pit of despair. If Mike Singletary doesn't work out as head coach, we'll have gone through Dennis Erickson, Mike Nolan and Mike Singletary, and come out the other end with a more talented roster, but not much to show for it. THAT is what I fear more than anything, and what really has me dismayed. It's not that 2010 would be a lost year. Rather, it's that 2003 to 2010 would all basically be lost years.

Maybe I'm being a whiny baby. After all, during my first 23 years of life, the 49ers won five Super Bowls and won 10 or more games in 19 of those years. I'm sure there are a lot of fan bases that would tell me to shut my mouth and suck it up. Of course, part of being a fan of the 49ers franchise until 2003 was that you expected to be a playoff contender, if not Super Bowl contender, every year. Now, we find ourselves wandering through the desert of mediocrity. The accumulation of talent does indicate a light at the end of the tunnel (to mix cliches), but patience is certainly wearing thing.

I'm not here to blame the Yorks because I know some of you will jump all over them with reckless abandon. I do blame them for many problems with this franchise, but as I've said over and over again, I do think they've improved as owners and are trying to do right by the franchise. They've made mistakes, and while my patience has certainly worn thin, I would actually like to see them in charge when things finally do turn around so they can get credit for their involvement.

Given the team's struggles, consider these just the random musings of a fan slowly being driven towards insanity.

For the first time since week 1 I've decided to post our previously weekly Mike Singletary approval poll. My apologies for its absence, as I think we would have seen some record low approval ratings and it would give us a solid idea of how people view the 49ers head coach. I'm sure the win will sway some people's opinions but I also think the win was ugly enough that it won't unfairly affect too many people.

Given the long time between polls I've decided to make a change to the poll. Previously the poll was always a yes/no poll. Of course there is plenty of room for shades of gray so I decided to change things up this week and turn it into a 1 to 10 poll. If you think Coach Singletary is doing an awful job and couldn't be worse give him a 1. If you think he's doing a fantastic job and couldn't be better, give him a 10.

Even as I write this I find myself trying to figure out what I'd rate Coach Singletary. At times I want to give him a 7 or 8, and at other times I want to give him a 2 or 3. I definitely don't think he deserves one of the extreme votes. Even in his struggles he could always be worse. That's not exactly inspiring, but it is certainly something to keep in mind. Where do you rate Coach Singletary at this point in time?