What’s up with the Niners’ best player?

With all the other issues surrounding the Niners, it’s been easy to overlook something that should be impossible to miss.

Their all-world middle linebacker — one of their most visible players — hasn’t been quite so visible recently.

Patrick Willis, who entered the season with 22 10-tackle games in his 48-game career, has just one double-digit tackle game this season and is on pace for 131 tackles — 21 fewer than he had in 2009. Willis has just 14 combined tackles the past two weeks — matching the fourth-lowest two-game total of his career — and was uncharacteristically out of position on LeSean McCoy’s 29-yard touchdown run on Sunday.


Willis led the NFL in tackles in 2007 and ’09. He ranked second in ’08. This season, he ranks 16th.

Mike Singletary said opponents, even more than in past seasons, have made stopping Willis a top priority.

“Teams have made a decision that, we have to, if we’re going to run the
ball, we have to get a hat on 52,” Singletary said. “So I don’t think
it’s just a matter of the defensive line letting guys get to him, I
think teams are really concentrating on doing whatever they can with
whom they can, whether it’s the fullback or the tight end, or the
tackle, or the receiver, to that side of the ball – ‘We have to, we must
figure out a way to get to Patrick Willis.'”

Singletary’s line about the “defensive line letting guys get to him” was
in response to earlier questions about nose tackle Aubrayo Franklin,
who serves as Willis’ first line of defense. Singletary suggested
Franklin hasn’t rediscovered his 2009 form after signing his franchise
tender on Aug. 28, 15 days before the season opener.

“Sometimes when a guy doesn’t go through training camp, it shows,” Singletary said.

Singletary said the Niners need better performances from Franklin and
the rest of the defense to make opponents pay for their focus on Willis.

“Well, other guys just have to step up — it’s just like basketball or
anything else. If you get a guy that’s double-teamed, you get to the
open guy,” Singletary said. “So that means if Patrick has two and three
guys on him, that means that somebody else should be open, and it’s as
simple as that.”   

• When told that Singletary felt his play has suffered because he missed training camp, Franklin didn’t agree.

“Nah. I feel that my play is the same where it picked off last year,” he
said. “I don’t think there’s any dropoff or anything. My body feels
better missing training camp. I think I’m right where I should be.”

Franklin, who was shoved back into the linebackers a few times Sunday,
was asked if his assessment held up when he looked at film.

 “Yeah. It shows on film,” he said. “If you look at the film, I feel like I’m playing at the same level.”

At least by one measure, Franklin is playing even better. According to
NFL.com, Franklin (15 tackles) is on pace for 48 tackles — 12 more than
last year.

• Asked why the running game hasn’t gotten untracked, Singletary pointed
to the offensive line, which features rookies Anthony Davis and Mike
Iupati and converted center David Baas, “Well, I think when you start
the season with a couple of young guys and a new center, that plays into
it. You just have to continue to move forward. Those guys are making
progress, and we just have to allow their maturity to continue to get
there.”

• Singletary was uncertain about the status of center Eric Heitmann for
Sunday’s game. Heitmann returned to practice last week after suffering a
broken fibula on Aug. 9, but was inactive on Sunday.

“We will find out this week where he’s at,” Singletary said. “Last week,
we knew that the opportunity was there, but you know he still wasn’t
quite ready.”

• RG Chilo Rachal has been a target of fans’ criticism, although the
Candlestick crowd hasn’t yet chanted “We want (Adam) Snyder!”  The
offensive line had its best game against the Saints when Rachal, who had
a shoulder stinger, was replaced by Snyder.

Singletary acknowledged that Rachal — to borrow one of the coach’s favorite phrases — is a work in progress.

“You know I think, in talking to our staff and talking to coach Solari,
Chilo will just have to be consistent with his technique, particularly
when he pulls down the line,” Singletary said. “I think that is the
biggest factor right now that he has to do. He’s done it before, he did
it the week of Atlanta, and I just think he has to continue to go
forward and do that.”

• Frank Gore is on pace to rush for 1,030 yards, which would be his
lowest total since he became a starter in 2006, and is averaging a
career-worst 3.5 yards a carry. In addition, he lost two fumbles against
the Eagles. Prior to Sunday’s game, Gore had lost just two fumbles in
his past 20 games.

Gore says he’s ready to redeem himself.

“Last week, I had a down game,” he said. “I wasn’t myself. I’ve got to
get back, and I will get back. I promise that, I will get back.”

Gore’s odds of bouncing back are strong this week against the Raiders’
traditionally wretched run defense, which ranks 31st in the NFL (147.8
yards a game). Oakland hasn’t ranked higher than 25th in the league
against the run since 2005.

• On Tuesday, John Madden said of Singletary’s sideline screaming at Smith on Sunday night, “That’s not coaching.”

Singletary was asked a question today that seemed to be making an
indirect reference to Madden’s comment. Is he concerned about how such a
sideline outburst could affect his image?

“I don’t really get caught up in my image,” Singletary said. “My image,
depending on who you’re talking to, it’s going to change every day. Just
so that I know that I’m consistent. I know that as a coach, the most
important thing is that when I see something that needs to be done, that
I do it. That I don’t start thinking about, ‘What are people going to
say, what is my image going to be?’ I don’t really care about that
much.”

• With another loss Sunday, the Niners would become just the second team
in franchise history to start 0-6 (the 49ers started 0-7 in 1979 en
route to a 2-14 season). They are currently the fifth team in the
franchise’s 65-year history to start 0-5. The Niners also lost their
first five games in 1950, 1963 and 1977.

None of those teams, as I’m guessing you know, made the playoffs. In
fact, the previous four Niners teams that started 0-5 finished with a
combined record of 12-44.

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