49ers GM Jed York Will Undoubtedly Fire Mike Singletary To End Nolan Years

Forty-niner fans remember the days of yore when winning 10 games in a season was a disappointment. Boy, have times changed.

There is a genuine sense that Jed York wants to bring the 49ers back to its glory years but loyalty to those from the Nolan regime has kept him from making a decision everyone knows he should make.

When Ed DeBartolo, Jr., owned the team, the 49ers front office was quick to get rid of people. There was the infamous and unceremonious departure of a coach on national television. New contracts were not offered to Montana, Rice and Lott well before they stopped being heroes.  And the reason back then was because DeBartolo, Walsh and Policy thought it was better to get rid of people sooner rather than later.  Boy, have times changed.

Nolan was fired after years of failure and only after several ridiculous game-management debacles. Then Scot McClougan hires another coach who has subsequently had far greater game-mismanagement debacles.

Game management is the least of the 49ers coaching problems. It is obvious that Singletary is one of those guys who can fire a team up and have the respect of the team, but ultimately does not have a good sense of where he’s taking them.

Case in point is this past summer. Singletary stated repeatedly that Alex Smith was the quarterback of the future. Supposedly all Smith needed was the same offensive coordinator and system for consecutive years. Three games into the season, he fires the offensive coordinator. 

What bothers most fans, though, is the denial of the obvious. Alex Smith is an average quarterback. You know it. I know it. The whole world knows it. After being in the NFL for umpteen years, he still is not staring defenders off. 

Instead he stares at receivers through their entire route. It’s no wonder he has more interceptions than touchdowns. Message to Alex: Take a look at Steve Young’s old film—he perfected the look-off.

Smith is also an inaccurate passer (always high). He runs outside of the pocket and to the right at the slightest hint of pressure instead of stepping up in the pocket. He is very inconsistent (New Orleans versus Philadelphia). And on and on and on… These are things that 49ers fans have talked about for years—and nothing is improving.

The 49ers front office has had their chances to get a proven QB veteran.  Forget Michael Vick. I mean let’s face it, Frosty the Snowman could have lived in Hades before Vick could have lived in the Bay Area.

There was Cassel from New England or Favre before he went to the Jets.  There was Jay Cutler before he went to the Bears. There was Donavan McNabb before the Redskins called. There was Jeff Garcia. And on and on and on…

The 49ers had their chances at drafting a quarterback, too. For example, Aaron Rodgers! [On an ancillary note, why do the 49ers shy away from local talent: Besides Rodgers there was DeSean Jackson, Jahvid Best, Trent Edwards, Marshawn Lynch]

But back to coaching, 49ers fans have been spoiled with geniuses, and let’s face it Singletary is no Walsh. He’s a blue-collar coach living in a predominately white-collar market.  One is not better than the other, but culturally, the fit is probably wrong for 49er fans.

Before the 49ers, Singletary was never a head coach. He fashions his coaching style after the only pro coach he knew.  The problem is that, that coaching style is 20 years passé and that coach was run out of the league for exchanging all of his draft picks for Ricky Williams wearing dreadlocks.

What was the first thing Singletary does as a coach? Drops his drawers in front of the team after a loss.  Geez, can you imagine Walsh or Seifert doing something like that.

Then there is his style of coaching. With quarterbacks like Montana and Young and receivers like Rice, fans are accustomed to phenomenal passing offenses. The mantra used to be, pass first to set up the run. Now, it’s run and pass only because you have to keep defenses honest.

Looking at the good coaches around the league the past decade, there is Belichick, Holmgren, Payton, Reid, Ryan, Shanahan and a few others. What they have in common is thinking outside the proverbial box, which is definitely not Singletary. 

Good coaches have defenses and offenses that surprise. They have frequent blitzes that are masked and change like a two-bit call girl. They have offenses that exploit mismatches by taking advantage of personnel. Gore in the flat is just not enough.

York had his chances to get one of the great coaches. There was Shanahan and perhaps Holmgren. But alas loyalty to a defunct regime has kept him from pulling the trigger.

Odds are that this will be the last year for both Alex Smith and Mike Singletary.  Bay Area fans have suffered through an NBA team owned by Cohen.  Jed York is no Cohen; he gets it.  He’s been loyal to a point, but he is a smart young owner.  He will make the right changes. 

However, now it’s five games into the season.  York realizes that he has the wrong GM, coach and quarterback, but he has to wait until the season ends to do anything.  He does not want to promote someone from within again, and no worthy coach will come mid-year.

He’ll restore 49ers pride by hiring someone like Pete Carmichael, Jr., from New Orleans in the offseason.  Carmichael is much more a 49er-type coach than Singletary, and York gets that. Although maybe his Youngstown, Ohio upbringing has him yearning for Jim Brown and a cloud full of dust.  That may not satiate 49er fans’ appetite though.