Does Singletary's vision, emotion get in the way?

<p>My blog, the Cohn Zohn, is flooded with comments condemning 49er coach Mike Singletary and his offensive coordinator Jimmy Raye. </p><p>Readers say Singletary should put quarterback Alex Smith in the shotgun formation from the start, not when things get desperate in the second half. Readers say Singletary and Raye are slow to react to the flow of the game, lack imagination and are stubborn. All this may be true — and I have been a critic of their run-first, run-under-all-circumstances mentality.</p><p>It seems fair to let Singletary address the shotgun/spread-offense controversy. Reporters asked about it at his Monday new conference, and here is a sample of Singletary’s thinking:</p><p>“One of the worst things we could do right now is to put Alex Smith in shotgun and say, ‘OK, let’s go get it, guys,’ and let him throw 40, 50 times a game. Alex is throwing as well as any quarterback in the league right now. He is as accurate as any quarterback in the league. The smartest thing for us to do is not to take all of training camp and just throw it out and say, ‘We’re going to go to the shotgun.’</p><p>“The smartest thing for us is to continue to open it up as Alex allows us to. But we’ve got to protect him as well and not just throw him out there. Because the first time he gets an interception, the first time he gets a tipped ball it is, ‘Why are you doing that? Do you think you should open it up that much?’ We have to be smart about what we’re doing. I think we have a good thing going with him — every game he has where he can throw like that, all of that time that he’s missed and all of the crap he’s gone through, it gives him confidence going forward to know, ‘I can do this.’ Hopefully that starts coming in the first quarter and the second quarter.</p><p>That quote is Singletary at his most Singletary. And isn’t Singletary an interesting name for him? He is single-minded, obsessed with his private vision in so many areas. That quote tells us he believes in Smith and doesn’t care whether you or I believe or if Smith has proven anything at all — he hasn’t yet. It tells us he and Raye have a definite plan for Smith, a plan that unfolds slowly as Smith can pick it up and includes the shotgun formation only some of the time.</p><p>I praise Singletary for having a plan, for refusing to change his offense radically in one week. It shows he has conviction. The worst thing is a coach with no conviction, a coach who changes his philosophy from game to game, a coach bullied by the media. Singletary’s strength is a prerequisite for good coaching.</p><p>None of this means he and Raye actually can teach Smith or that Smith himself is teachable or good enough — we will find that out soon enough — or that Singletary is correct in resisting the shotgun. But Singletary’s convictions speak well for him even if they frustrate fans.</p><p>Singletary is not a humble man. He was a great player and that usually rules out humility. And he imagines himself acting out God’s plan. This is how I see him — I could be wrong. Last June, someone asked if the 49ers will make the playoffs. “No doubt in my mind, none,” he proclaimed. “I don’t even blink at it.”</p><p>He’s blinking now. His team has lost five of its last six. That’s disaster territory. That’s Mike Nolan territory. The 49ers have been close in some of those losses, but close doesn’t count. Remember, Singletary is the guy who spits on moral victories.</p><p>At his news conference, he was, well, “humble,” or maybe “chastened” is the word. Again he was asked about the playoffs. “At the very start of this season our goal was to win enough games to go to the playoffs,” he said. “We’re good enough to do that. We’re running out of games.”</p><p>We could argue with the idea the Niners are good enough. They are unproven at quarterback. Their offensive philosophy is unproven. And their defense doesn’t defend all that much. But remember Singletary lives in a world of absolute certainty. Here is an example. Someone asked how he feels about his 4-6 record. Please excuse the long quote, but Singletary will talk:</p><p>“My first emotion is anger. It really is. Anger because it doesn’t have to be like this. At the same time, excitement because I’m just thankful we don’t have a team you get your tail beat, you come in, you look at that film, ‘We can’t do any better than that. We just have to build for next year.’ That’s not where we are.</p><p>“Where we are right now is we are still hurting ourselves. We are our own worst enemy. If we could just beat the enemy within, then we have a chance to go out and beat the one we’re playing against. When you talk about taking that next step — and we will take that next step — when you talk about taking that step, you’ve got to help guys understand, you’ve got to see yourself different, you’ve got to think like a champion. When you walk on that field, you’ve got to know, ‘This is my game.’ When you start thinking like that and when you start acting like that, when things go bad on the field, you’re able to take a step back and say, ‘We’re going to make this happen. It’s not going to be like it was before.’</p><p>“When you start thinking like that, that’s when you start winning those kinds of games we played yesterday. We don’t have enough of those guys there yet, but we will get there. And we will get there this year.”</p><p>That quote is the best and worst of Singletary. It’s the best because it is emotional and exhilarating. It’s the worst of Singletary for exactly the same reasons.</p><p>That stuff about the enemy within sounds good, but who exactly is the enemy within? Maybe the 49ers just aren’t good enough, not as currently assembled. Singletary the motivator never could entertain that thought. He thinks you become a champion by thinking like a champion. </p><p>You seriously wonder if his emotions get in the way of clear thinking. In Mike’s World, the 49ers are a playoff team even if they are what they are. Not a playoff team.</p><p><em>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.</em></p>