It's not a relief for Singletary as season ends Sunday By David Zizmor December 30, 2009     SANTA CLARA--49ers head coach Mike Singletary is not necessary relieved about anything about the 2009 season or it's ending on Sunday. Looking back on it for him he says it's been an education. Singletary has been there as a player and he's seen pretty much everything. He played on some bad Bears teams and he was on some very good Bears teams. Just knowing how Singletary played at the level of intensity, the way he got up for games he would never be relieved that a season was over or a game for that matter. Singletary always anticipated and was anxious and ready to go. So game time for Singletary is his favorite time and again I wouldn't say he was ever relieved that anything was over. It's been an education for Singletary. If you remember how the 49ers started the season aside from him saying they were going to make the playoffs which is what you have to say if you’re a coach. The thing for Singletary at the beginning of the season was that they have to be a run oriented team that pounds the ball and beats teams into submission and the education came with looking at personnel on this team and realizing that maybe his vision at the beginning didn't match the personnel that he had on the field. He learned pretty quickly that if he wanted to succeed he had to go with what the talent dictated if his talented was more run oriented he would go with the run, if was pass oriented he would go with the pass. What the 49ers are starting to see in these last three or four games now is that Alex Smith is a little more entrenched at quarterback and that wide receiver Michael Crabtree has learned a little bit more. Now that Vernon Davis is a top level receiving tight end and now that these things are evident Singletary realizes that he has to get these guys involved and that doesn't mean he has to scrap the entire run first but he has to do things with his offense to help him take advantage of the talent that he has. That means not running so often and passing a bit more because Smith is better in that pass first spread kind of offense because Crabtree and Davis give you more weapons that he has to utilize. It's unfortunate that it took this long for the 49ers to realize it but let's face it at the beginning of the season nobody knew that Davis was going to be a force to be reckoned with. Davis actually challenged the record for most touchdowns by a tight end in a single season nobody knew that. Everybody thought he had the potential to be that kind of player but he's never done it in the past on a consistent basis. It took half of the season before the 49ers could sit back and say "hey this guy's for real" just like the rest of the league had to step back and say that. Crabtree and he's a great talent and while his talent is really obvious the first time he made a play, the 49ers didn't have him work in practice day in and day out in the first few months of the campaign and he had to adjust but he did quickly. He and the team couldn't work the offense and take advantage of his skills because he wasn't there. 49ers finish up in St. Louis: The 49ers go into St. Louis as the Rams are staring at the number one draft pick in the face and the Rams have been awful this season. That includes a 35-0 loss to the 49ers way back in week four this season. The Rams have had a terrible year nothing has gone right. They're sitting at 1-14 which would give them the worst record in the league and a matter of fact the Rams are the favorites for the number one pick in the draft. The Rams played hard football but the simple fact of the matter is that their talent is very deficient relative to other teams they are just missing so many parts. They have a number of years before their going to be a competitive team and you can't say enough about how hard they play because despite some of the setbacks they've had they certainly have never given up and that's a testament to their head coach. Rams host the 49ers for a 10AM kickoff in St. Louis this Sunday. David Zizmor does commentary on 49ers football, with game coverage by Morris Phillips and 49ers previews by Tony the Tiger Hayes

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