I understand what Killion is saying but again, this article is 20/20 hind sight.
So before she gets on her high horse, I would like to quote all of you here article she wrote in 2008. Ann says:
Killion Quick Column: Singletary is the right hire.
Posted by akillion on December 28th, 2008 at 6:45 pm | Categorized as Uncategorized
The 49ers did the right thing. The smart thing. The popular thing.
Even stranger, they did it quickly.
When was the last time you could say that?
Perhaps never in the Yorks’ tenure. Until Sunday.
The 49ers wasted no time. They did no dithering. They didn’t outthink themselves. They named Mike Singletary head coach within minutes of the end of the 2008 regular season.
A season which, by the way, ended with a win, bringing Singletary’s record to 5-4 and giving him a running start on 2009.
“I don’t think we could have written up a script any better than how it happened,” newly appointed team president Jed York said in announcing the hiring.
Well, sure they could have. The 49ers could have fired Mike Nolan a year ago, rather than wasting the first seven games of this season. A true fairy tale script would have had Singletary’s team clinching a playoff berth with Sunday’s win, rather than missing the playoffs for the sixth straight year.
But we digress. And if you had been on the field at Candlestick when Singletary walked off – after a come-from-behind victory over Washington – you would have thought the team had made the playoffs. The stadium was rocking and the new coach was treated as the utlimate rock star. It’s been a long time since there’s been that kind of excitement in the old concrete dump.
In ten weeks, Singletary has completely changed the vibe around the 49ers.
.........
And on Oct. 21, after Nolan was fired, Singletary finally had a platform to let it all come out. He had a few early missteps – like his rant after the first game and the revelation that he had dropped his pants at halftime – but wasn’t discouraged.
“It wasn’t embarrassing,” Kim said. “It was more like ‘Note to self: don’t do that again.’”
And when he apologized to the fans as he walked off the field for the first game, it was genuine.
“I think that was pent up for the last few years,” Kim said.
There’s been so much losing, so much frustration, so little direction or passion around the 49ers for so many years. Then Singletary fell into the Yorks lap, through no grand plan or scheme or football insight of their own. And – in nine weeks – things feel totally different.
Like his wife said, the man likes to build things. And you can already see the new building taking shape.
http://blogs.mercurynews.com/nfl/2008/12/28/killion-quick-column-singletary-is-the-right-hire/
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Proof for you in black and white these columnists are not experts, they can't see around the corner, they get caught up in the hype and trumpet the same premature declarations of victory that we do. They aren't special and certainly when they are exposed for the hypocrisy they write its even more damning.
Ann? Really? The Yorks are that bad? Then why the praise in 2008? Interesting.
Whenever you have an organization, there rarely is ONE person to blame for its product. Usually, it's a few people, certain circumstances and bad luck that result in a bad result. It's no all on the Yorks. It's not all on Singletary. It's no all on the OC. It's no all on the players. All of the events that brought down a franchise didn't happen in one season but took a long time to accomplish where we are today. Even if we had new owners, a new coach, new players it doesn't mean that immediate success is guaranteed. Sure there are certain moves that will make us all feel better (as it did Ann in 2008) but obviously it's not always the case.
What the 49ers need in my humble opinion is what Ann describes as football expertise. That helps. However some luck in involved here. Grabbing the right coach at the right time with the right player available. We were lucky to have one of the greatest of all time - and he did his job so well, the team was set for 2 decades. That's not just skill but some luck. However, Walsh had his mistakes (Donahue) and the Yorks leaned on him when they felt they had no one else. People think it's easy to just put out a job description out that and just say "I want to pay the best person out there to come run my organization". There are MANY NFL retreads that were NOT successful.
I'm not defending Singletary - of course I think he's responsible. I'm not defending the Yorks because I believe they are responsible for their part in this. I'm defending certain players who should be showing more than they've shown thus far.
What I am defending is this notion that if we just do THIS or THAT then suddenly things will turn around for the entire franchise... or this notion that ONE group or ONE person is responsible for all the teams problems. As Ann herself alludes in the OP article, the 49ers need a vision and it takes more than one or a couple of people to implement a successful, organizational-wide, franchise-winning vision.
oooooooooooo That hurts! 
