For a first post-game press conference, that was a doozy. San Francisco lost, 34-14 at home to Seattle earlier today, and Mike Singletary’s head coaching debut included benching his starting QB, J.T. Sullivan in the second quarter, and telling TE Vernon Davis to take a hike with 10 minutes left in the game. “I’ve never seen a coach so animated,” winced the SF Chronicle’s Kevin Lynch, who clearly never saw Tom Coughlin’s cameo in “The Snorks”.
“You don’t want me to go any further,” Singletary said, to which Santa Rosa Press Democrat columnist Lowell Cohn said, “Yes we do. You’re doing fine.” Singletary said, “This is going to change. It’s going to change because they (and he pointed to the locker room) want it to change.”
“I told everyone at the beginning of the week, I will not tolerate players that think it’s about them when it’s about the team,” Singletary said still in high-decibel mode. “We cannot make decisions that cost the team and then come off (to) the sideline and it’s nonchalant. I would rather play with 10 people and just get penalized … rather than play with 11 when I know that person is not sold out to be a part of the team. It’s more about them than it is about the team. Can not play (with those players). Can not win with them; can not coach with them. Can’t do it. I want winners.”
This drama and animation by Singletary could go either way. Either he self-implodes or he gets the team to buy in. It reminds me of when Magic Johnson took over for the Lakers for a half a season and threw a player’s cell phone against the wall. Johnson couldn’t deal with the modern player and maybe Singletary can’t either.