Niners should hold on to Singletary
Signs of Mike Singletary leading the 49ers next season
– sans that pesky interim tag – appear to be garnering strength
with each win, with each pants-on halftime speech.
Good for him!
Of course, a Singletary Era would likely mean the end of
offensive coordinator Mike Martz, whose air-it-out approach clearly
clashes with Singletary’s grind-it-out style.
And this is where the NFL offseason could turn into baseball’s
Hot Stove.
Niners should hold on to Singletary
Signs of Mike Singletary leading the 49ers next season – sans that pesky interim tag – appear to be garnering strength with each win, with each pants-on halftime speech.
Good for him!
Of course, a Singletary Era would likely mean the end of offensive coordinator Mike Martz, whose air-it-out approach clearly clashes with Singletary’s grind-it-out style.
And this is where the NFL offseason could turn into baseball’s Hot Stove.
Singletary is not guaranteed to return as head coach next season, because that would mean losing out on possibly Bill Cowher, perhaps even Andy Reid, and after a year or so, Mike Holmgren.
But while lassoing one of those big names to skipper the Niners is a complete shot in the dark – even bringing in Holmgren, a San Francisco native, is a stretch – the 49ers have a very possible, very doable plan that isn’t getting much consideration.
Why not bring Singletary back and hire Norv Turner as the offensive coordinator?
It’s a tad crazy, I know, but these are the things I ponder when watching the Detroit Lions play on Thanksgiving.
It’s also terribly logical.
Singletary seems to be gaining the respect of his players with each passing week as a head coach, while Turner has proven time and time again that he’s not head coach material, and he’s currently proving that theory down in San Diego.
Although Thursday night’s game against Oakland was not final at press time, the Chargers have compiled an already dismal 4-8 record, and are considered the NFL’s biggest disappointment this season.
The Niners, meanwhile, have been a complete disappointment offensively the last two seasons without Turner.
San Francisco went 7-9 in 2006 with Turner, and although it was the team’s fourth consecutive losing season at the time, the offense’s improvement that year was a welcoming sign – not to mention the improvement of Alex Smith, who went completely downhill when Turner bolted to the Chargers.
Turner would probably have to be fired in San Diego – his contract runs through 2010 – and would also need to swallow his pride (again) and take a lesser position for a struggling team.
But with Martz likely gone in the upcoming years, why not bring one of the few coordinators back that actually seemed to be helping the team?
Here are a few other Thanksgiving Day/weekend leftovers:
There has been much talk about the Detroit Lions losing their Thanksgiving Day privileges because they’re such a tremendously bad football team.
Fair enough.
But watching the Lions lose, and lose rather poorly, on Thanksgiving Day is a tradition in many households, including mine.
There’s really nothing like another turkey on Thanksgiving to help me with my tryptophan-induced nap.
The best part about Oakland’s failed fake field goal kick? No one on
the field, with the exception of kicker Sebastian Janikowski, holder Shane Lechler and tight end Tony Stewart, knew about the fake attempt – all the better to dupe the Chiefs!
No, really.
When Plaxico Burress – excuse me, Harris Smith – admitted himself to the hospital with a gunshot wound last weekend, why didn’t he go with the obvious alias, Ron Plaxico?
