In the press release announcing he fired Mike Martz, Mike Singletary said, "it was best to go in a different direction."

What direction? Before Martz the 49ers were pretty much directionless on offense. Martz got off to a shaky start with JT O'Sullivan but after Singletary took over and said he wanted Shaun Hill to be quarterback, Martz worked to satisfy Singletary. Martz changed his game plans -- Ira Miller called them surprisingly "rational." Instead of being pass crazy, Martz mixed runs and passes, had a balanced, effective offense.

Singletary is in charge of keeping or firing coaches on his staff, but he better have someone good in mind, someone who's a better offensive coordinator than Martz. This is a challenge to Singletary. You dumped a really good assistant, so now show us what you can do. Show us you are competent to get someone better. If you can't you'll look foolish.

I bet Singletary's knowledge of offense and offensive coordinators is limited and rudimentary. He's a Chicago Bears guy. He thinks offense is running the ball. He thinks he can shove this prehistoric kind of football down the throats of Niners fans, fans who are used to passing and imagination and offensive entertainment. That's taking quite a risk for the novice head coach.

I bet Singletary didn't make this decision on his own. I bet he had pressure from upstairs. Well, Singletary has created a crisis on his third day on the job. Nice work.