One Singletary Reason

The San Francisco 49ers will make it to the playoffs for one reason and one reason only, Mike Singletary. Just the fierce look on his face gives me the heebie-jeebies. Just look at the transformation he has made with Vernon Davis, who in his first full season under Singletary put up 13 touchdowns and 965 yards. This may just be the Niners’ year.

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First let’s take a look at their division. The Seattle Seahawks have a brand new head coach in Pete Carroll and the ex-USC coach does not have a very impressive NFL coaching career. The Arizona Cardinals will finally be starting Matt Leinart at quarterback after Kurt Warner decided to retire, and on top of it lost a great wide receiver in Anquan Boldin. Finally, the St. Louis Rams are, well they are the St. Louis Rams. They do have 1st overall pick Sam Bradford, but they have a long way to go before they are relevant again. This leaves the 49ers with an excellent opportunity to scrape up their division and once again get back to the playoffs.

Now let’s see why Mike Singletary is the answer to the Niners’ playoff woes. He’s a hard nosed, take no crap kind of coach. He will do whatever it takes to push his players to strive for the best and we have seen glimpses of this success. The Niners recorded losing seasons from 2003-2008 and finally hit the .500 mark in 2009 by going 8-8. Under Singletary they are 13-12. This is already an upgrade from previous years. He has also created some offensive production with the blossoming of Vernon Davis and the improvement of struggling quarterback Alex Smith. Not to mention that the Niners still have a very productive back in Frank Gore and a talented, young receiver in Michael Crabtree. But let’s not get it twisted, Singletary has been and will always be a defensive minded guy.

Vernon Davis at Niners' Camp

The San Francisco defense ranked 4th overall last season and boasts one of the best young talents in the game, Patrick Willis. Along with Willis, they have a solid defense with players such as Manny Lawson, Takeo Spikes, Nate Clements and former USC star, Taylor Mays. It is no secret that Singletary once was an offensive nightmare. He was known as “The Heart of the Defense” for a Chicago Bears team that consisted of one of the most feared defenses in NFL history. Now Singletary has brought this intensity and passion to his current squad and is pushing them to their limits. Just this week he was quoted to saying that he wanted to become the best coach of all time. That is a large feat to reach but it is that passion and desire that will help him and his team finally take steps in the right direction.

This is just an opinion…so please, Pardon My Bias

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