Mike Singletary's San Francisco 49ers

Upon beating the second playoff-caliber team in two weeks, interim head coach Mike Singletary was asked about the extent of his ownership on this team.

"I won't say that it's my team, and I won't say it's becoming my team," he answered, "because I'm really trying to help it become the players' team...Rather than it be my team, it's going to be their team, and then it's going to be our team (the players and coaches). My team would be the third."

Coach Singletary wasn't just being modest. He was laying out goals and simultaneously achieving them as the 49ers are rapidly and undeniably becoming Mike Singletary's team.

The players feel, finally, that this is their team.

In the Mike Nolan era, confrontation was oftentimes indirect and via the media. Nolan’s handling of Alex Smith was often clumsy and ultimately disastrous. Singletary, on the other hand, wasted no time in directly showing the tempestuous Vernon Davis who was in charge. 

And while his postgame press conference that week had hints of Nolan’s my-way-or-the-highway tact (which resulted in the dismissal of linebacker Jamie Winborn and receiver Antonio Bryant, among others), Singletary resolved the issue in private and recovered with a higher level of respect among his players.

"I like Singletary; I want coach Singletary around … as long as he wants to be around," Vernon Davis said later, "I think he's a great coach. I'm proud of him."

Suddenly, game performance and potential outweighed practice performance and personal relationships with the coaches when it comes to determining playing time. 

While Nolan largely deferred the QB situation to Martz, Singletary took mere minutes to relegate J.T. O'Sullivan to the bench in favor of the none too flashy, but solid play of Shaun Hill. 

Mike Nolan seemed to have a Dusty Baker-like deference to his tenured players, whereas Singletary is confident in his own leadership to give young players like Chilo Rachal, Jason Hill, Josh Morgan and Dominique Ziegler some real chances at contributing (although injuries certainly played a role as well).

"He's a great motivator, but that's just one of his strengths," defensive back Donald Strickland recently volunteered. "Everybody in this locker room has great respect for him, and the coaching staff has kept us in position to win games. Making a coaching change in the middle of the season could have been a distraction, but everybody here has kept working hard, and (Singletary) just increased our confidence all around."

"Coach Singletary, you can't do nothing but like him," said Frank Gore. "He's going to be straight up with you, and (from) a coach, that's what you want. With a coach being straight up, that's the best way to get better as a team."

While Singletary has won over the players with his motivational speaking abilities and the trust and admiration he earned "walking the walk" as one of the greatest football players of all time, accomplishing point two on his list of extending ownership to the coaches certainly looked to be a more difficult task. 

Winning over an experienced coach with a bit of an ego like Mike Martz, after he was passed up for the position, is a challenge akin to President-elect Obama getting Hillary Clinton to thrive as a team player in the Secretary of State role and be happy to wait her turn.

Mike Nolan entered the season knowing well that his precarious job status left him no choice but to bring Martz in and give him free reign over the offense.

Singletary, on the other hand, has taken his similarly tenuous job status as a license to make the most of his time at the top.

He has publicly disagreed with Martz on occasion and demonstrated himself as the team's leader, installing Shaun Hill and impressing upon the pass-happy OC the need to consider the whole team and protect the defense by avoiding turnovers and controlling the clock better.

Just a few weeks ago, Mike Martz looked like another one-year coordinator for the 'Niners. His style couldn't be more different than Singletary's, he didn't have the previous relationship with him that he had with Mike Nolan, and there didn't appear to be any opportunity for advancement to the top spot. 

What has transpired in the interim, namely winning, appears to have altered the equation a bit.

It's beginning to look like Martz has realized the situation he really is in. Largely due to Singletary's insistence that Martz take a real close second look at Shaun Hill and to emphasize innovative but not reckless, Martz is discovering that the offense is turning around in a way that doesn't require a gambling quarterback, for the team to lead the league in sacks allowed, or to be unbalanced in pass vs. run. 

In the long run, this development is good for his career. He's remembering what it's like to run an offense that isn't the Detroit Lions.

Furthermore, Martz is realizing that taking credit for a one-year turnaround of an offense, only to leave them the next year would be detrimental to his future job prospects. As a result, press reports indicate that Mike Martz has removed himself from consideration for the San Diego State head coaching position and seemingly plans to honor his two-year contract with the 49ers.

Some other developments are taking place in San Diego that the 49ers would be well advised to pay attention to. The San Diego Chargers are struggling and Norv Turner is in danger of losing his job and discovering once and for all that he is meant to be a great coordinator and a mediocre head coach. 

If the Chargers indeed fire Turner after this season, and he's finally come to terms with his limitations, the 49ers would have to look very seriously at capitalizing on the development, regardless of Martz's status, and hiring Turner for an assistant head coach/offense role and giving him a lucrative long-term contract.

Installing Mike Singletary as the permanent head coach and having a capable and consistent presence on the offensive side would be the ideal situation for the 49ers.  They can ill-afford to continue to choose between incompetent coordinators and ones that leave them after a year for greener pastures.

At this point, the only way Mike Singletary is not retained as head coach is if the 49ers disintegrate spectacularly over the last few weeks of the regular season, and/or if the front office determines that there cannot be any offensive continuity without locking in a qualified offensive force as head coach.

If that becomes the operative situation, the 49ers would definitely be looking at losing Singletary to another team and likely pursuing the following candidates for the opening:

--Jim Caldwell, Associate Head Coach and Quarterbacks Coach, Indianapolis Colts

--Mike Heimerdinger, Offensive Coordinator, Tennessee Titans

--Josh McDaniels, Offensive Coordinator, New England Patriots

--Jason Garrett, Assistant Head Coach and Offensive Coordinator, Dallas Cowboys

Big names who probably won't be getting the job:

--Mike Holmgren (although he's moving to nearby Santa Cruz, he has his eye on a front office position and has promised his wife he'd take a year off from football.)

--Bill Cowher (he'll probably want to stay closer to home and look at Cleveland and Cincinnati, San Diego if he wants to get exotic.)