San Francisco 49ers: Why They Are More Like a Pizza Company Than a Football Team

We’ve endured a lot of strange behavior and quotes from San Francisco 49ers head coach Mike Singletary the last couple of years.

There was of course the famous incident during a game against the Seattle Seahawks a couple of years ago, where he pulled down his pants in the locker room during halftime to illustrate to his team that they were getting their “tails whipped.”

More recently, he thanked Seattle head coach, Pete Carroll, after a 31-6 loss in the season opener.

"Thank you very much for kicking our tails,’” Singletary said. “It was good medicine and we’re going to take it.”-from the Seattle News Tribune.

I really think the next time the 49ers play Seattle they should call tails in the coin toss. It seems bound to come up again.

There was his meltdown during a radio interview when he was asked about a Yahoo Sports article that castigated former offensive coordinator Jimmy Raye and questioned his communication skills.

Singletary at one point replied, "Don't base an entire man's career on a dad-gum Yahoo commercial."-from profootballtalk.nbssports.com.

The reporter, Dennis O’Donnell, was subsequently removed from the KPIX broadcast, “The Coaches Corner,” and replaced with Kim Coyle.

Then there was his press conference after yesterday’s last-second loss to the Atlanta Falcons where he seemed, “Dazed and Confused” to borrow a phrase.

When asked if the timeout was to give the defense a breather, Singletary replied, "I felt the defense was getting tired, but I didn't call a timeout because I thought they were getting tired. It had something to do with time management or something like that."-from Eric Branch and the Press Democrat.

Singletary originally didn't remember the timeout and seemed to get other questions mixed up with other issues that had transpired throughout the week.

He mixed up a question about Taylor Mays getting the start over Reggie Smith with the Michael Lewis incident.

"You know what, I want to talk about the game," he said. "If you want to talk about that, that has nothing to do with the game.”-from Eric Branch and the Press Democrat.

But the one thing that bothers me the most is what Singletary said today. When asked about the Nate Clements interception turned fumble, Singletary replied, "It’s unfortunate that that play had to happen, but we’ll learn from it and continue to go from there.”-from Dan Brown and Mercurynews.com.

Singletary talked about playing “mistake-free football” and getting better.

He talked about the offense getting better, learning, and getting better.

Doesn’t it remind you of a pizza commercial?

You know the one I am talking about. Domino’s has a campaign for patrons to send in pictures of their wonderful looking pizzas. But the campaign backfires as one guy sends in a picture that shows the toppings and grease smeared to the top of the box; the rest of the pizza is nothing but a quagmire of cheese.

The CEO of the company says, "Bryce, you deserve better than this." (So do 49er fans.)

He then goes on to say, "We are going to fix this, we are going to learn, and get better."

What?

A delivery pizza company in business for over 40 years doesn't yet know how to deliver a pizza properly?

So just how long will it take for a football coaching staff to learn and get better?

How long will it take for Alex Smith to learn to become a quality quarterback and get the offense better?

How long do fans have to wait before this team learns, gets better, and delivers some wins?

Sorry, have to go, the pizza guy is at the door. Perhaps they will get it right this time.