Anyone who ever saw Mike Singletary on the field, or knew of his motivational work as an assistant coach in Baltimore and San Francisco, had a pretty good idea that he wouldn't ease into his first game as the 49ers' interim head coach. After benching quarterback J.T. O'SmellingSalts and kicking tight end Vernon Davis off the field, Singletary held a mesmerizing post-game press conference in which he laid out just exactly how the heck it's going to be as long as he's the lead dog.
"I'd rather play with 10 people and just get penalized all the way until we have to do something else rather than play with 11 when I know that right now that person is not sold out to be a part of this team. It is more about them than it is about the team. Cannot play with them, cannot win with them, cannot coach with them. Can't do it. I want winners. I want people that want to win."
This is how it is in the SF now, everybody, Better get used to it. It's the rare individual who can pull this kind of thing off so soon in his coaching career, but Singletary is not, and never was, your average Bear.
UPDATE: Here's a link to the press conference video [1].
Links:
[1] http://www.nfl.com/videos?videoId=09000d5d80bf84eb