Jesse Sapolu, like many of the regal San Francisco 49ers from decades past, was curious. What would new 49ers coach Mike Singletary do in his debut?
So, Sapolu, one of only six 49ers to play on four of the franchise's five Super Bowl-winning teams, showed up. He watched the new 49ers look a lot like the recent 49ers in a 34-13 home loss to Seattle on Sunday that dropped San Francisco to 2-6 and to the NFC West floor.
Singletary sounds off
Mike Singletary put his stamp on his 49ers coaching debut, benching QB J.T. O'Sullivan, confronting TE Vernon Davis and capping the day with an intense press conference. More ...
Sapolu was at the San Jose airport waiting for his flight back home to Los Angeles when he saw Singletary's post-game news conference that served as a sizzling sermon.
And all Sapolu could do was say, "Amen."
"We have been trying for a while as a franchise to do everything we can to come together as a team," Sapolu said. "We can't afford silly mistakes and have people out of the chemistry of the team. Coach Singletary is old-school. I believe in old-school."
Singletary rocked the place -- and the league.
After benching his quarterback, J.T. O'Sullivan, in the third quarter and banishing tight end Vernon Davis in the final one, Singletary apologized for the loss. He said he would rather play with 10 players than with an 11th who is not sold on being a part of the team. He said he cannot play with, win with or coach those types of players. He said he wanted winners.
He promised to find them.
His problem: On the 49ers roster, how many are there? And in this climate of me-first, endorsement- and money-driven athletes, how many will tune him out rather than in?
Last Wednesday, Singletary gathered his team in a circle after his first practice as head coach and spoke for 10 minutes. He challenged them on his vision of where they were and where they needed to go.
The instant reviews were glowing.
Running back Frank Gore offered that everything Singletary says "comes from the heart." Linebacker Jeff Ulbrich said Singletary could talk about "tying your shoes and get you excited."
But little of it translated into performance on Sunday. Into victory.
Singletary should have showed a bit more of his post-game fire leading up to the game rather than after it. He looked more embarrassed for the result and what it said about his first days of leadership than he did simply about the players' effort and the loss.
The type of mental change, wisdom and style he wants the 49ers to exhibit is certainly better suited for a full offseason of minicamps, training camp and preseason to impart. Of course, Singletary, after coach Mike Nolan was fired last Monday, had six days to accomplish that before the 49ers took the field. Impossible.
His press conference, refreshing in boldness, was an assault on fans' senses, let alone his team. Seldom is a coach in any sport so brutally frank in his post-game chat. Players and fans are used to such honesty being reserved for closed-door meetings. Young football players need leadership. Trust.
I believe it was the wrong move by Singletary.
I believe the public ploy, the public lashing, is one you might use as a last resort -- not six days in.
For an old-school guy, Singletary did not use the old-school football approach of keeping family business within the family.
It was an overreach. Emotionally driven. For this hard-nosed football veteran, a rookie move.
What Singletary should do moving forward is find the core of five or so players who can reinforce his message and take ownership of the locker room. Rely on them. Even a Hall of Fame player like Singletary cannot reach the locker room like player peers can.
There has never been an NFL championship team without a handful of driven players molded in the image of their driven coach taking ownership of the locker room.
Singletary must find that. He must create that. He has a bye week to search for it before the 49ers return to action in a Monday night game on Nov. 10 at Arizona.
Sapolu was primarily a center during his 49ers championship runs. He was at the center of that team's core of player leadership.
"You have to have core standards that hold true," Sapolu said. "This is what we are lacking now with the 49ers. Coach Singletary is trying to create that. Like Bill Walsh and George Seifert, he is not going to put up with some of the stuff that has been going on with these players. The group I played with wanted to be long-remembered after we played. We accomplished that. I am not sure that this group of players is thinking along those lines. I'm not sure they are thinking like that at all."
So Singletary reached. He attempted to shake this 49ers team at its core and used Davis -- the sixth pick of the 2006 draft -- as the genesis.
Intriguing move. Also the wrong one.
Richard Dent, Singletary's teammate with the Bears and Sapolu's on the 1994 49ers, saw what he always has seen from Singletary: "That's Mike. He's a winner. A leader. Obviously, I don't think this was the first time something like this happened with this player. This has probably been going on for some time. No, I don't think what Mike did was a problem. The problem is players doing things that don't help you win games."
Sapolu agreed: "Davis has not played up to his potential. We all know a lot of players get drafted because of the numbers they put up at the scouting combine. But it's all about the numbers they put up in the NFL with pads on. This is his third year. It's time for him to step forward and make plays and not stupid penalties like he did."
Davis was penalized after a making a catch when he slapped the facemask of Seattle safety Brian Russell. Davis, to his credit, deferred to Singletary after the game ... sort of.
"Not in my head," he said. "I don't think I did anything wrong. But when the coach thinks I did something wrong, I've got to listen to him. He's the boss."
Of course Davis did something wrong. And with 16 catches this season, no touchdowns and only seven scores in his career, he has been neither the playmaker nor difference-maker envisioned.
O'Sullivan said he was surprised after he was benched: "It is the last thing you are thinking about." But he was pulled after throwing a pick that was returned 75 yards for a touchdown. He was pulled after the San Francisco offense continued its trend of sloppy play. Was he kidding when he said he never thought he would be pulled?
If not, then, goodness, little wonder Singletary exploded about his team's mindset as much as its shoddy performance.
Singletary wants his players to learn accountability.
Singletary can help them do that by setting the example first on how to handle untidy business.
A general manager who requested anonymity offered this on the escapade: "It's not going to work. No player, no person, wants to be undressed before 70,000-plus people. You cannot treat pro players in public like they are children. 'Just go to your room?' This is pro football, not pee-wee league. It's just not the way to go today. Players are different. It's a whole new culture. Davis is one of the best players on that team. He is super-talented. I think he is the most talented tight end in the NFL. He has not progressed like he should have, but you've got to continue to talk to him like a man, behind closed doors. Mike is going to learn from this. Quickly. He can completely lose that locker room fast with that approach."
Sapolu counters: "Mike has done some special things in his history, and he can relate that to the players. I do believe in an old-school approach. I think Bill Belichick and the Patriots have done it that way and have won Super Bowls because of it. We did it that way and won Super Bowls because of it."
But I don't remember Belichick ever doing something like this so openly to a player during a game or in a post-game news conference. Walsh or Seifert, either.
Singletary can fix it.
But he has to get a handle on his own emotions just like he is demanding his players get a handle on theirs.
