Dear Coach Singletary

You've been with the 49ers for awhile now, and you are in the middle of your second full season as Head Coach.You replaced Mike Nolan, who honestly was barely a Head Coach, and did better in front of the media than he ever did on the field. Replacing him was necessary, but when the team chose you, many people wondered if you were ready. The other folks worried that if the 49ers didn't choose you, someone else would pluck you from the ranks and we'd lose you to another team.

In your first press conference, you famously yelled, "I WANT WINNERS! I want people who want to win!" It became your calling card; they made billboards of it.

But here's the problem: As a coach, you aren't a winner. Thus far, your record is a dismal 13-15, including this season's jarring 0-3 beginning. You seem to detest the fact that the media holds you accountable, and your condescension to the media has become a national joke.

Loyalty is important - and I understand the commitment to Alex Smith, who I honestly don't think is the problem.When reporters ask you about anything to do with "X's and O's" you can barely conceal your contempt, but they are not the problem. Many cite offensive coordinator Jimmy Raye, who has a myriad of issues ... but while I'd like to see him replaced, he's not the problem.

Here is the problem - I think it's you.

Trust me, it hurts to write this. I am a die-hard 49ers fan; if I could have named my daughter Joe Montana, I would have. I just think you are in way over your head, and that things aren't going to get better until we get a legitimate head coach.

You've now been out-coached - yes, out-coached - by Pete Carroll and Todd Haley, not to mention Super Bowl winning head coach Sean Payton. When I looked at the schedule at the beginning of the year, Seattle and Kansas City were teams that I chalked up as wins; Seattle went 5-11 last year, one win better than the Chiefs 4-12 record. Certainly, they've improved this year - but that's inexcusable. Winners beat the teams they are supposed to; now, you are looking straight uphill, in the worst division in football, the 49ers are at the bottom.

Your excuses are pathetic, and your insistence that Jimmy Raye stay as offensive coordinator belies more stubbornness on your part than anything else. It's not like Raye is considered a genius around the league; the fact that he looks like he retired several years ago doesn't mean he's useless ... just that he's not exactly lighting up the league. He's also the guy who can't always get plays called in time, seems to run the ball only when the team is down by several TDs and ... enough.

I don't claim to know more about football than you, Coach Singletary. You obviously have made it your life, and I know that you are a passionate, faithful man - and not just because you parade an offensively large cross around your neck every game day. (Seriously, I could care less about your faith, but I don't need it in my face. And it's odd/lame that a league that refuses to let coaches wear non-Reebok clothing doesn't seem to care a whit about a coach wearing a cross the size of a Subaru around his neck.)

I know this because it's your deal, it's your image and it's part of why people got excited about you as a coach - you are inspiring. Hell, you were a motivational speaker before you got into coaching. Obviously, you can fire people up.

I just need to see evidence that you can coach. An 8-8 record last year was nice in that it broke a long series of losing seasons, but the team was still playing golf in January. An 0-3 start to the year, including two losses that rank among the most embarrassing ones in franchise history, suggests you haven't learned much of anything.  I like the direction the team has taken, and I thought the draft was masterful this year, but it doesn't matter if your game plans stink and you can't adjust once the clock starts. The team is now going to Atlanta, and then home against the Eagles, and frankly, if the team is NOT 0-5 at the end of that, I'll be shocked. Let's be clear; this team hasn't been that bad since the late 1970's.

And you know what? I expect to hear this from you: "It's all about growing, and moving forward and learning more about ourselves. We will figure this out, we will win, we will dominate." Or, something like that, because it's what I've heard you say almost every single week since you took the reins. It's past getting old, it's now stale, and it's got to stop. I think you believe this stuff; I just don't know why.

I'd love to look back on this post a few weeks, months or years from now and be embarrassed, ashamed that I ever thought such things about you, Coach Singletary. I hope that it's a sign more that I'm a frustrated fan than an acute observer. I really, really do. But, as they say, I have my doubts.