We’ve seen Mike Singletary red-eyed after losses.
We’ve seen him in defiant you’ll-see-on-Sunday mode.
We’ve seen him in motivational, voice-rising, we-will-embrace-the-challenge mode.
Today, however, we saw a new Singletary persona: Comatose Mike.
Singletary has been subdued with the media before, but not quite like this.
At one point, Associated Press reporter Janie McCauley asked the
expressionless, soft-speaking Singletary if, you know, everything was
OK.
“My mind still looking at San Diego plays,” Singletary explained. “I’ve been trying to get on track with that.”
It makes sense.
Three days to prepare for a road game against the Chargers? All joking
aside, Singletary was probably running on fumes after looking at the
film all night.
San Diego (7-6), on its trademark late-season hot streak, has won five
of its past six games, boasts the NFL’s top-ranked defense and owns
second-ranked offense led by quarterback Philip Rivers, who has the
second-highest quarterback rating in NFL history.
Still, Singletary’s mood, while unusually somber, was in keeping with a
general change in tone over the past few weeks. There has been a
noticeable shortage of cocksure pronouncements in his recent meetings
with the media.
More relevant to the team he coaches, Singletary has carried his low-key
persona to the sideline as referees and headsets have been free from
his wrath lately.
He was asked if it’s been a conscious decision to cool it with sideline drama.
“I think more than anything else, it’s just probably just a progression.
I mean, you get to a point where you realize that the referees are
going to call what they are going to call, and there’s only so much of
that you can control,” he said. “My big thing is body language of the
players, making sure that the coaches are on time in getting things in,
making sure the quarterback has time to get the call and really deal
with the offense. So it’s just really kind of honing in on those
things.”
In other words, the head coach is doing more actual coaching.
Rather than giving in to his middle-linebacker emotions, he’s paying
attention to details such as making sure the plays are getting in on
time.
Has he become a better coach this year?
“We’ll see at the end of the season,” he said.
I’m guessing Singletary has become a better coach.
I’m also guessing that, at the end of the season, he’ll see that his development didn’t come fast enough.
• LG Mike Iupati (stinger) is day-to-day. CB Will James, who hasn’t
played since suffering a concussion on Nov. 14 against St. Louis, might
miss a fifth straight game.
“It’s possible,” Singletary said when asked if James could play Thursday
night. “We’ll see when everything is all said and done in terms of the
testing. We think he’s coming to the end of it, but we’ll see.”
• Vikings interim coach Leslie Frazier, Singletary’s former teammate
with the Bears, is in the same situation Singletary was in two years ago
after Mike Nolan was fired and he took over on a interim basis.
Frazier, one of Singletary’s best friends, has called his old teammate this season and asked for advice.
• Singletary hasn’t been hailed in too many circles for his coaching
acumen, but Sports Illustrated’s Peter King gave him his Coach of the
Week award in his Monday Morning Quarterback column.
“Most people (including me) think Singletary’s coaching out the string
with the 49ers,” wrote King. “But he’s still coaching to win every game
he can, and making decisions for the short term, because this team,
incredibly, still has a chance to win the worst division in recent NFL
history. He switched quarterbacks from Troy to Alex Smith (even though
he’d grown fed up with Alex Smith by midseason), and Alex came through
with the best game a quarterback has played for the Niners this year.
And San Francisco routed the Seahawks 40-21.”
• King said it might be time for the Bengals to sever ties with
struggling QB Carson Palmer. He encourages Cincinnati to trade Palmer to
the 49ers in April for a second- or third-round pick.
Palmer, by the way, ranks 24th in the NFL with a 78.1 quarterback rating.
Alex Smith (80.6) ranks 21st.
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