Move over, “I’ve got to look at the film,” there’s a new catch phrase in Santa Clara: “That’s on me.”
Me, of course, would be 49ers head coach Mike Singletary, who crafted a prepared statement in the 17 hours between his team’s 21-0 loss to Tampa Bay and this morning’s postmortem press conference in which he also said quarterback Troy Smith would start on Nov. 29 at Arizona.
Reading, at times, from handwritten notes on a sheet of white paper, Singletary acknowledged the Niners weren’t properly prepared for a game in which they entered favored by three points and exited with their first home shutout since 1977, when Singletary, 52, was a freshman at Baylor.
“As you look at our team and particularly as we talk about the game
yesterday, why we lost the game, that would be on me. That would be on
me,” Singletary said. “That would be on me when our receivers don’t run
the right route. That’s on me. When we have a turnover, that’s on me.
Anything that happened in the game is on me. Because it all ultimately
comes back to me. I understand that.”
The message of accountability was a new one from Singletary, but the
forceful nature of his opening monologue was familiar to his critics,
who have pegged him as a headset-wearing motivational speaker devoid of
Xs-and-Os substance.
Singletary even helped further that perception in his opening statement.
“Did I lead yesterday? I think so,” he said. “Did I motivate through the
week? I think so. Did I prepare? Did we prepare our players? Obviously
not as well as we should have.”
In other words, gold stars for leadership and motivation. But that other stuff such as game-planning? Not so good.
After Singletary’s opening, the floor was open for questions. And the
responses didn’t inspire much confidence that the final six
regular-season games would look markedly different from the first 10.
He was asked about the Niners’ in-game adjustments. San Francisco, for
example, has scored 14 points in the third quarter (1.4 points a game), a
stat hinting that effective offensive adjustments aren’t being made at
halftime.
Singletary made it sound as if his team is occasionally helpless to stop a team that’s figured out its tendencies.
“I just think that some games you’re going to have where a team just has
your number or things just don’t work out the way you want them to
work,” Singletary said. “There are going to be some games that you have
them. I don’t care who you’re supposed to be, the best team in the
league right now, they’re going to have a game where somebody just has
their number. And yesterday was ours.”
After he offered up his team’s preparation, or lack thereof, as a
contributing reason for Sunday’s loss, he was asked a logical follow-up
question. Would he be more hands-on as a head coach this week to ensure
the performance wouldn’t be repeated against Arizona?
He began by clarifying his statement about his team’s preparation. But
the gist of his response was this: “This week I will just make sure we
continue to look at the things that work in our favor. On the offensive
side of the ball they’ve been working their tails off to get the best
plan possible. Troy is working his tail off to try and make sure that
everything that we’re talking about, everything that he needs, he is
here day and night. So I’m confident that we will get where we need to
go.”
On Accountability Day, Singletary agreed his team’s 3-7 record didn’t
reflect well on him, “I wouldn’t even dare to say I’m doing a good job.”
But he quickly changed course. It’s not over yet, he said. With
Singletary, there’s always another bit of adversity to conquer or mountain to climb.
Arizona is up next.
“Ask me after that game if I’m doing a good job,” he said. “And that’s what I’m excited about.”
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