Mike, is this anyway to react?

SAN FRANCISCO – What did you think of Mike Singletary’s coaching? He is a dramatic coach. He acts like he’s in a movie, raising his voice, calling attention to himself. You get the feeling this team is not the San Francisco 49ers; it’s the San Francisco Singletaries.

We know he did that famous I-Want-Winners speech after his first game last season. Shortly after that he unveiled, as it were, the underwear caper. But what he did in the first quarter against Atlanta was an all-time first and it came right out of Hollywood – passionate coach motivates his players.

The Niners were down 7-0, and they weren’t playing well.

But come on, it still was a game. With about 6½ minutes left in the quarter Singletary called timeout. His players gathered around him on the field. You thought of Moses gathering his people before the mad dash across the Red Sea. Or maybe Singletary was imitating a high school coach under the Friday night lights.

The players listened intently to their leader. On the very next play, Falcons quarterback Matt Ryan threw a 31-yard touchdown pass to Roddy White and the rout was on.

So much for the impassioned coach’s speech - it’s hard to believe Singletary believes this stuff works.

“We were sort of on our heels up to that time,” Singletary said. “It didn’t change the rest of the day. I thought at that particular time, ‘OK, guys let’s settle down. We’ve had a chance to see what they’re trying to do. Let’s do a better job preparing for that.’ It did not work.”

Praise Singletary for his taking the blame. He seems like a man of quality. That doesn’t absolve him from how he coached. He likes the role of orator but sometimes he needs to back off. He sure needed to back off against Atlanta. And you know why.

With Atlanta ahead 21-7 in the second quarter, Delanie Walker ran back a kickoff and fumbled the ball and Atlanta recovered. The ground might have caused the fumble, which meant it was no fumble. It was up to Singletary to throw the red challenge flag.

But Singletary had no timeouts left and was forbidden to throw the flag because he had used that timeout for the Moses routine. Of course, the Falcons scored a touchdown.

“It’s all about game management,” Singletary said. “If you don’t have a time-out challenge you just have to let it go.”

Singletary was faulting his game management and when he does that he is commendable. He still should have saved one timeout. He had to play more than 11 minutes in the second quarter without a timeout and that’s never a good idea.

There was more. Early in the third quarter he got into a screaming and pointing episode with Falcons offensive lineman Harvey Dahl. The radio announcers were saying Dahl and other Atlanta linemen were playing dirty and Singletary clearly was sticking up for his players. A coach doesn’t argue with players. He coaches. He stays above the fray and retains a clear mind.

“I wish I had more coaching etiquette, OK?” Singletary said. “I don’t. I love my players and when someone responds about my players in a particular way, I may do some things I shouldn’t do. I have to get better at those things.”

There was no hint of irony in Singletary’s voice. He sincerely meant he must learn composure, and we agree.

Singletary’s on-field demeanor did not cause the loss. It was a symptom of losing behavior by a novice coach. On the other hand, his coaching leading up to the game most definitely contributed to the loss, that and the weakness in his pass rush, offensive line, running game and quarterback.

Until the Falcons game it was unclear what to think of the 49ers. They had some good victories against weak teams, so we didn’t know. Well, the Falcons are a middle-of-the-road team and they obliterated the Niners.

Now we know a thing or two.

Someone asked Singletary if this loss was a setback.

“I wouldn’t call it a setback,” Singletary said. “I would just say it will be a wakeup call.”

Singletary is welcome to split linguistic hairs. The operative word is “exposed,” as in what the Falcons did to the 49ers.

For more on the world of sports in general and the Bay Area in particular go to the Cohn Zohn at blog.pressdemocrat.com/cohn. You can reach Staff Columnist Lowell Cohn at lowell.cohn@pressdemocrat.com.