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In a Shocking Development, Mike Singletary Isn’t into Moral Victories

Let’s be honest, no team had a more surprisingly disappointing Week 1 in the NFL than the San Francisco 49ers, who were waxed by NFC West rival Seattle. Many folks’ pick to win the weakest division in football, the 49ers put up just six points on on the Seahawks.

On Monday night, they regained a lot of their preseason respect, but did it in a losing effort. The 49ers hosted the New Orleans Saints on Monday Night Football, where quarterback Alex Smith engineered a two-minute drill drive for a touchdown to tie the game late in the fourth quarter, only to see it erased with a last-second field goal.

This is going to come as a shock to you, I know, but while many pundits believe the 49ers haven’t squandered their playoffs hopes with a 0-2 start, San Francisco coach Mike Singletary isn’t looking at it as a moral victory. I know … it’s stunning.

Mike Singletary joined KNBR with Murph and Mac to discuss his stance on moral victories, whether losing big hurts more or less than losing a close game, if the biggest takeaway from Monday night was Alex Smith’s performance, whether turnovers can be a byproduct of bad luck, if he expects Smith to perform up to those standards from here on out, if he’ll encourage Smith to run more like he did against the Saints and the big picture outlook to an 0-2 start.

On whether there was a moral victory in the close loss to Super Bowl champion New Orleans:

“No. Moral victory is something that we really don’t use around here. It’s something that we went into the game not wanting to come out of the game saying.”

On whether losing a close game hurts more than losing a blowout:

“Your emotions are different from one week to the next, just like you might be upset about something one week and something else happens and that next week you’re totally different. Different emotions are touched every week.”

On whether the biggest thing to take away from the game was the performance of Alex Smith:

“No. The biggest takeaway from the game, for me, was the turnovers. We have to continue to emphasize the turnovers and make sure that we eliminate them. That’s what we have to do. That was my biggest thought coming out of the game.”

On if bad luck contributes to turnovers:

“I don’t really believe in bad luck. I just think that it’s the way the ball bounced. I just feel that there were some interesting bounces last week and we fell on the wrong side of them. But I think, going forward, in terms of experience, good luck and bad luck, the harder you work, the luckier you get. We just have to keep working. We have to keep getting better.”

On whether he expects Smith to play to the level that he did on Monday from here on out:

“Hopefully not. Hopefully you see him play better. I expect him to play better and I feel that he will. As I said before, I’m sure that you and some of the other people have their thoughts about Alex and I really want his play to continue to speak for him. I’m excited about him. I’m excited about what he’s done and where he’s going. We’ll just continue to keep our eyes on him.”

On whether he’ll ask Smith to use his legs more like he did Monday:

“If it’s there, take it. If not, go down. I’d rather have him for the next down than to see him running around. I don’t get too excited with him running. If he can get out of bounds, go for it. That’s kind of how I feel about that.”

On the big picture view of an 0-2 start:

“The big picture at 0-2 in a 16-game season is we’re one game out of first place.”

Listen to the interview with Mike Singletary on KNBR here

Tags: Alex Smith, Mike Singletary, NFC West, NFL, San Francisco 49ers