Sports Radio Interviews

Mike Singletary On The 49ers Recent Struggles: “There are a number of different reasons and we don’t really have time to get in to all of it.”

The San Francisco 49ers have hit a bit of a wall after their impressive 3-1 start. The 49ers now stand at 3-5 after having lost their fourth straight this past Sunday against the Tennessee Titans. Quarterback Alex Smith, who Coach Singletary played in favor of Shaun Hill, has been the Alex Smith of old – i.e. plenty of missed receivers and head-scratching turnovers. Tonight (Thursday) Singletary’s former team, the Bears, travel to San Francisco to take on his new team, the 49ers.. Chicago has some serious issues of their own. They’ve lost 3 of 4 and are getting torched defensively. This one’s pretty much a must-win game for both teams, so it should be interesting to see which team comes out and plays with a greater sense of urgency after a month straight of poor play.

Singletary joined KNBR in San Francisco to talk about the struggles of his team, why he believes wholeheartedly in Alex Smith, coaching against his former team this coming Thursday night, and preparing for the pivotal game during a short week.

On if all the media responsibilities bother him:

“You know what, in all honesty, I enjoy the conversations that I have with you. I want you to know that. It’s always fun; it’s always good. But I don’t mind talking to anyone. I think there’s a way that you do things. I don’t enjoy getting in a conversation with a writer, or whatever else, getting in to a 1-on-1. To me, it’s not about me, it’s not about the writer. It’s about our team. And right now, we;re 3-5, we’ve got half the season left and when you have some people begin to make decisions and say things to me are just unfounded right now. I think you have to continue to move forward. It’s too easy to be negative in life.  I think everyday you got to wake up, and it’s a new opportunity, you go out and do the best you can, and you work to get better.”

On the struggles of quarterback Alex Smith:

“Let me say it this way..I had a meeting with Alex yesterday and I got to tell you, when I sat down and looked at the film Sunday night. I called Alex on the phone and told Alex, I want you to understand this – I really like the way you’re throwing the ball. I like the confidence in your decisions. I like how you’re going about doing what you have to do. I said it’s unfortunate that a couple of the passes that you threw, one, well both bounced up in the air. One could have easily been pass interference. The other, you get a speed rush off the edge and it’s a fumble. And I thought he threw one interception in my mind. And the decision – I know why he did it. And the thing that I told him is I don’t want him going forward thinking about not making mistakes. I want him to go forward just making sure he is detailed about everything that’s hes doing. And making sure that when he throws that ball, to know how I feel about throwing interceptions. How it puts the team in a bind when an interception occurs.

But Alex Smith is not the cause of all of those interceptions. To say that Alex Smith had four turnovers is absolutely wrong. If you say that he had one that was truly his responsibility – yes that is exactly right. So people need to understand that’s just not right. The guy’s played 10 quarters in two years. And he comes back and he’s trying to get back on his feet, he’s trying to do the right things, the guy can throw the ball, he’s going to be a good quarterback. And for people to just pound him like that, and boo him like that, that’s their right, they bought the ticket, that’s fine. But if you want to look at a guy that chose to be here, he wanted to be here. And this guy can play the game. He wants to be a 49er , he wants to get out there and play in front of these fans. That was his choice, he could have left for more money. But he said you know what, I owe it to these guys, I owe it to the fans. I’m going to get out here, I want to stay here and I want to do it. To me, that says more to me. Now I’m sure somebody could come up over that and say he’s a high character guy and that’s great but that doesn’t buy this, that does’t buy wins. You know what? Give this guy just some time. As I look at him, he’s going to continue to get better and soon. So I’m excited about what he’s doing and I’m very encouraged that I know he understands the whole turnover thing and how it difficult it makes it for our team to overcome it. But he’s not the only one involved.”

On what he thinks the one or two main reasons are as to why the 49ers struggled in the 2nd quarter of the season compared to the 1st:

“There are a number of different reasons and we really don’t have time to get in to all of it. I just think that sometimes you have things that happen, you have injuries, you have quarterback changes, you have situation in which as we were going forward, I think Shaun Hill did an outstanding job in the 1st quarter going in to the 2nd quarter.  I just thought teams should put 8 or 9 people in the box and say okay Shaun Hill we’re going to make you win the game. And going forward I felt we needed to make the decision to help the team win, and I think when I look at our team, our team deserves to have the best opportunity to win week in and week out. And I thought Alex Smith was the best choice for that. I also think that while we were going through that deal, you just have a situation where you’re trying to get settled. We went out and won our first couple of games, have a chance to win in Minnesota, then come back and win your third game of the season, and it’s just one of those things where sometimes you just got to rally around and you got to put the pieces together going forward. And I think right now we’re going through the growing pains of putting a good football team together. And that team is certainly continuing to grow. But we are very, very close of where we need to be. And sometimes even though you lose on the scoreboard, sometimes there are some things that are happening on the field that are very good that people can’t see because they’re focused on the scoreboard, which is the bottom line. And I think the things that I have been seeing, the small things that I have been seeing on the field, the small things I’ve been seeing in games – will be reflected in time on the scoreboard.”

Listen here to Smith on KNBR in San Francisco

Tags: KNBR, Mike Singletary, San Francisco 49ers, Singletary returns to Chicago to coach against former team, Week 10 NFL