Mike, Mike and Shaun

By Richard Brear  |   Wednesday, November 12, 2008  |  Comments( 1 )

San Francisco 49ers
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This week, whichever Mike bummed-out San Francisco 49ers fans speak of, head coach Mike Singletary or offensive coordinator Mike Martz, he probably will not be thrown under the bus.

During the days after the 49ers' Monday 29-24 defeat in Arizona, if a fan speaks of Martz, he is likely to first come off as a buffoon. Without a doubt, blaming Monday's officiating crew for the 49ers’ inability to run across the Arizona goal line on consecutive goal-to-go attempts for a sure San Francisco win is lame in the extreme. Fans everywhere say that these revelations released by Martz the day after the Niners’ crushing second 2008 loss to the Cardinals really reek of the proverbial sour grapes or reflect Martz desperately trying to save face.

But make no mistake: Martz did contribute to some positive things by the end of the game Monday. One cog in the San Francisco offensive drive train, quarterback Shaun Hill, showed lots of upside running the plays Martz called.

Hill exhibited unselfish leadership and remarkable toughness against Arizona. Quarterbacks customarily end their runs for yardage by sliding feet-first to avoid injury, but after Hill’s helmet was blasted off his noggin during a scramble downfield on Monday, he continued charging ahead into Cardinal defenders; as a result, he trudged for a few more yards and a first down on a third-and-11. It showed determination and team spirit of the very caliber that Singletary demonstrated during his Hall of Fame career as a Bears linebacker.

Speaking of Singletary, by the time he got to Phoenix, he was cooler. Gone was the coach’s now-legendary hair trigger. Before their bye, Singletary was ready and willing to take down any 49er for anything detrimental to his team. Singletary did exactly that Oct. 26 after tight end Vernon Davis frivolously whacked a Seahawk’s helmet and was penalized.

However, after Monday’s great insurance touchdown by Davis just before halftime, Davis celebrated his catch too much for officials on the field and earned a penalty again for San Francisco. “Uh-oh,“ everyone thought. “Here it comes again. What‘ll Singletary do this time?“ But this time, Singletary celebrated the catch and the points it earned with Davis.

With more of the improved defense evident Monday night, Mike, Mike and Shaun will probably again show San Francisco fans almost-good-enough-to-win play. Against a team as unaccustomed to winning as the current St. Louis Rams, who knows? The Niners may just pull out a win.
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About Richard Brear

My first newspaper article of many appeared in print in the 1960's, but my fascination with journalism never got too serious until roughly twenty years later. In the 80's, I became a certified teacher of English Language Arts, got degrees from the University of Houston, and began teaching writing ...
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