you know i was second guessing if we should let sing go as much as i love the guy i think his inexperience as a head coach can blow up in our faces but before we let him go we have to give him a better QB
[h1]Communication a growing problem for Niners[/h1]
The growing tension between San Francisco 49ers players and the coaching staff bubbled to the surface in the team’s surprisingly lopsided loss at Seattle on Sunday. While coach Mike Singletary took quick action to call a team meeting Sunday night to get the coaches and players back on the same page, the reality is that Singletary is navigating some very choppy waters.
Singletary gets a little animated during Sunday’s loss.
(Joe Nicholson/US Presswire)
It’s the kind of problem that could spoil not only a season expected to yield a division title, but also Singletary’s career as a head coach.
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On Sunday, the 49ers wasted three timeouts and were called for a delay-of-game penalty on three first-half possessions when they got inside the Seattle 10-yard line. By the end of those three possessions, the 49ers had only two field goals (though a touchdown was negated during one series following a booth review). Ultimately, that’s the definition of ineffective football, allowing Seattle to gain momentum on the way to a 31-6 victory.
After the game, quarterback Alex Smith pointed the finger at the coaching staff, saying the plays weren’t getting in fast enough. Smith was right and Singletary tried to cover that fact by claiming there were problems with the team’s headsets.
According to multiple sources familiar with the circumstances, the real problem has been more than a year in the making and became more significant following changes the 49ers made within the coaching staff this offseason.
In Singletary’s first full season last year, offensive coordinator Jimmy Raye, one of the more respected veteran coaches in the league, was calling plays from the coach’s box upstairs. Raye would call plays down to offensive assistant Jason Michael, who would then send the play into the quarterback. That system worked effectively even at times when Raye struggled to find exactly the right play or say it exactly the right way.
“It seems like Jimmy calls plays from memory a lot of the time and not exactly the way it’s written down,
