We return for week 12 of the Mike Singletary Approval Ratings, which have been zig-zagging quite a bit lately. If the 49ers can't find some consistency soon, we might just finish out the year up and down in the ratings. After putting up 88% in week 10, following the win over Chicago, Singletary's rating dropped to 61% last week after an abysmal loss to the Packers. Over at ESPN, Coach Singletary's rating has risen from 72% last week to 87% this week. What I continue to find so amazing is that Mike Singletary has garnered more total votes (18,372 yeas and nays) than the other three NFC West coaches combined (16,283). I wonder if it's name recognition, or just the passion of 49ers fans?
In last week's approval rating post I asked whether Mike Singletary was driving the offensive philosophy and how that was going to play out in terms of the smash mouth football and opening things up offensively. We certainly got an answer Sunday on the field, then again after the game, and one more in Mike Singletary's press conference yesterday. After last week's lost at Green Bay, we heard comments by Vernon Davis and Michael Crabtree about putting more of a spread look into the offense. They felt this gave the team the most success. Yesterday, I think we learned a lot about the way this team operates, and also the way Mike Singletary really runs things.
Singletary mentioned how some of the players had approached them about ideas for the offense. Singletary listened to them and then told them to tell that to Jimmy Raye because Raye was the man with ownership over the offense as a whole. As Singletary put it in his press conference:
The guys just basically said, ‘Coach, this is what we like. I think this would help.' The thing that I have been talking about all year is ownership. When you talk about ownership, that is a huge word, it comes with a lot of responsibility. If you are willing to ask for something, if you are willing to come up with a solution, then it is on you to make sure that you carry through with that. That's what leadership is.
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"I have always believed all of my life that if someone has something to say, be man enough to convey it. Don't come to me and tell me, ‘Coach, I don't like this; I don't like that. Jimmy is doing this; he is doing that.' That's not going to fly. All that is going to do is get me upset because that concerns me that you are not man enough to do that. The most important thing to me is we have 53 men, not a bunch of boys, not a bunch of guys sitting in there waiting for something to happen.
Just reading Singletary's words does not always convey the meaning behind them. If you have never watched a Mike Singletary press conference, I recommend checking out yesterday's. Every week I hear that man speak, I am simply amazed. I'm convinced he could convince players to walk through fire for him. While he may have his issues with Xs and Os and game management, Singletary seems to have the leadership aspect of coaching down fairly well.