First off, you should be glad you're not celebrating New Year's Eve with Mike Singletary tonight. Asked how he'll celebrate he'd said he'd pray a lot. That doesn't sound like much fun, unless you're into praying -- which he obviously is.
He held his season ending press conference Wednesday afternoon and naturally everyone clambored to know why he dumped Mike Martz as offensive coordinator. Singletary said they had philosphical differences. I thought he was blowing us off. When someone says philosophical differences he's blowing you off.
Except Singletary wasn't. They really do have philosophical differences, which Singletary explained. Martz wants to pass before run and Singletary is the opposite. Singletary wants to know he can run at the end of the game, devour the clock, control the ball, impose his will on the opposing defense. "I'm not trying to outsmart anybody," he said. This is Chicago Bears Ditka stuff, but it has worked in the past.
If Singletary can get a coordinator who does that, great. If Singletary can impose his will, terrific. He will find that some day he will meet a team even tougher than his and when that happens he needs some cleverness and finesse. Either he knows that or he doesn't.
I think Martz did a real good job for him. But I acknowledge Singletary has a right to his own man, owes it to himself to get his own man. We ask: Can he find this man? Does smash-mouth football work as well as he imagines? We'll find out soon. To read my column on what Singletary is looking for in an offensive coordinator click here.
This year the top five rushing teams, the Giants, Vikings, Panthers, Ravens and Falcons, are all in the playoffs. Of the five top passing teams, only the Colts and Cardinals are in, and the Cardinals wouldn't have been in the playoffs if they weren't in the NFC West.
(By the way, the Niners, despite Frank Gore's thousand yards, finished 27th in the league in rushing. Foster averaged 3 yards a carry and Michael Robinson managed only around two and a half. For Singletary's offense to become a better rushing team they'll need some more horses in the stable.)
Martz's "big risk/big reward" offense can still generate lots of yardage, but it puts way too much pressure on the defense. In the first half of the season Martz's offense kept putting the Niner defense back out on the field. The Niners lost the time of possession and most of those games. Singletary's style of offense, which he imposed on Martz, was more effective in winning games. Someone who can put together a powerful run game, maybe a Tom Rathman if he's ready to be OC, would be a better fit.
Singletary actually gave a tip of the hat to Walsh's WCO. Remember, Jerry Rice and others caught little five yard passes and made them fifty yards. So having a passing attack that has mostly quick routes is fine. It's the seven-step drops that don't work anymore.
Yes, Singletary does deserve to bring in his own coordinator, and hopefully he finds someone who can implement the smash mouth offense that he wants to run. No it is not as glamorous as Shanahan's west coast passing game, but it could be effective with the right people, and players in place. I think we should give Singletary the chance to do it his way, lord knows he can't do much worse than Nolan.
Hey Bob: Great analysis! I also like the way you presented the facts in a manner that was far more intellectual then some of the normal name calling we see on the blog. People do forget that while the West Coast offense wasn’t afraid to spread the defense and throw long that slants were Jerry Rice’s bread and butter and short passes where in effect a “ground control game”.
Hey Lowell
Who's Ditka? The last time I saw him at the Stick he threw a wad of chewing gum a fan after he just got his butt kicked AGAIN by the passing first 49ers! He was a LOSER just like Singletary will be a LOSER!
The anti Lowell Cohn comments about Shanahan being superior to Singletary only goes to show that many 49er fans are still somehow blinded to the ineptness and futility of the York franchise. Like the mice who everytime stick their necks into the trap only to be caught, they still don't get it about the Yorks and their putrid losing ways.
Erickson, Nolan and now Singletary only prove the rotten structure the Yorks have built. But these same fans, like the mice, still stick their necks in the York trap thinking there will be goodies returned from this unorganized organization. It's a pity that there are still some 49er fans who believe this franchise under these front office fools will deliver a winner.
Lowell's simple words of how a winning franchise would have waited just a few weeks to look at what would be available to the club in the head coaching field is a given to a real winning franchise. NO ONE would have taken the Singletary because he proved NOTHING! So there was plenty of time to discern!
So go ahead 49er mice, the York trap is just sitting there waiting for you! AGAIN!
Terry, as I understand it, Shanahan gets around 20 million from Denver whether or not he draws up another pass play for the rest of his life. Why would Shanahan want to coach San Francisco next year? Because he used to be here fifteen years ago? He may follow Cowher and Holmgren and kick back and smell the roses for awhile.
Singletary strikes me as a good choice. The players played better for him in the second half of the year. Less penalties and mental mistakes and finishing 5-2 in the last 7 games. Nothing that Singletary has done so far has shown me that he isn't a good choice.
On the other hand, after the team has played so well for Singletary and gotten on board for him, going out and replacing him with someone from the outside (and who says Shanahan would even consider the Niners?) the players would feel that not rehiring Singletary would be almost treasonous. You could end up with a mutinous group of players and a second-tier coach. Not good.
Another consideration: Because of the Rooney Rule, all those franchises with vacant head coaching spots would have to interview minority candidates. Singletary would be the single best minority candidate this year. If the Niners waited for a few weeks they probably would still end up without Shanahan and someone else will have snapped up Singletary.
Myself, I think that the best free agent coach still out there might be Mangini. He was a good coach for the Jets but was undermined by having Favre imposed on him from the front office, which should tell everyone why a head coach wants control over his roster. Wherever Mangini ends up watch for improvement.
Lowell, Singletary also said he does not want to be a three yards and cloud of dust guy. We'll find out next year, of course, but even this year he has said he's not at all opposed to throwing the ball. I think he wants more balance and less Martz-style risk taking. Tough to argue with that. And I think he's well aware that he has to be able to do more than run the ball in order to win. Funny how people seem to think that Singletary doesn't know the most basic things about football, they just try to make him into some cartoonish figure. He isn't .