Singletary Toughness Strikes In San Francisco

San Francisco, to the playoffs?

What's happened all of a sudden? Has retired jersey No. 16 returned, throwing passes to No. 80? Has No. 42 come out of retirement to lay the wood on enemy pass receivers? Is that No. 33 sneaking through the line to rack up another 1,000 yards in pass receptions and another thousand in rushing yards?

Save it for NFL Films.

You have to chuckle when evaluating the playoff/Super Bowl chances for any team out of the NFC's Western Division. Sure, the Super Bowl loser, Arizona Cardinals, rests comfortably in that division.

They came oh-so-close to knocking off the Pittsburgh Steelers in a surprising run at the Lombardi Trophy last February. Are they really and truly for real in the overall NFC picture?

Already, the Bears are better with Jay Cutler at QB. New York's back with its defense, Eli Manning, and a three-headed monster back corps. Even Atlanta, with tight end great Tony Gonzalez asserting himself into Matt Ryan's passing routes, are a superior team to the Cardinals.

But no division in football is as wide open as the NFC West—Arizona, Seattle, St. Louis and the San Francisco 49ers, which concluded the season by winning four of its last five games in 2008. Under new coach Mike Singletary, who knows what will happen?

Arizona's Kurt Warner is still to be feared, especially with a receiving corps like Larry Fitzgerald, Anquan Boldin, and Darnell Docket. Tim Hightower and Beanie Wells in the backfield will open some gaps. Dominique Rogers-Cromartie has free agent Bryant McFadden, a very good addition, as his twin-cover corner in the secondary.

Quarterback Matt Hasselback's best days are behind him in Seattle. Jim Mora at head coach, though an upgrade to the lame duck days of Mike Holmgren, still brings too many question marks on board.

The Rams are, of course, laughable. They passed on passer Mark Sanchez in the draft? The remaining Marc—Bulger, at QB—isn't enough to resurrect the "Best Show on Turf." There's no perceptible toughness or roughness on defense, either.

All of which leaves the San Francisco 49ers.

Sometimes, National Football League games, and seasons, are such a crap-shoot. I believe the 2009 season is so up in the air for the NFC West, the 49ers may well be on track to nail down a playoff berth. After that, who knows?

Is Frank Gore enough of a threat from the backfield? No, the running game isn't strong enough, at least dating back to last season.

Who's at quarterback? Shaun Hill's return? A second chance for Alex Smith?

Forget the numbers. Focus, for a few moments at least, on Singletary. That toughness. The strong will. Or any encounters with mediocrity. Flush them. Stuff them. Forget the weak sister seasons. If Singletary's tenure doesn't produce a physically-punishing football team, then San Francisco's doomed for quite awhile.

During that 4-1 finish last season, memories of linebacker Patrick Willis, roaming from one sideline to the other, lingers clear and fresh. Outside linebacker Parys Haralson was a strong pass rushing presence. Check out those final scores—10-3 over Buffalo, 24-14 over the Jets, a 14-9 loss to the resurrected Dolphins, 17-16 over the lowly Rams and 27-24 over Washington. That's 15 points allowed per game.

Hill, if he regains that starting QB spot, averaged over 200 yards a game during that span.

If Singletary can somehow reclaim Bill Walsh's legacy—a strong pass rush, especially late in the game, plus a ball-control offense, plus that intangible quality of toughness—then San Francisco's return to the post-season may well be a certainty.

Speaking of tough: There's that schedule—road games at Minnesota (Bret Favre?), Indianapolis and Philadelphia, home games against Atlanta, Tennessee, Chicago and Jacksonville.

If, somehow, the red-and-gold can sweep its NFC West rivals, there are some easy marks, including Detroit and Houston. That's eight wins. Throw in a toss-up games with Green Bay, given the nature of NFL football in general, there could be a 10-6 or 11-5 final regular season record in there.

Coming out of the NFC West, that's a playoff number.