San Francisco 49ers fire coach Mike Nolan

The San Francisco 49ers dropped the axe on Monday, firing head coach Mike Nolan seven games into the season.  The last nail in his coffin was a listless performance by the team in a 29-17 loss to the New York Giants at The Meadowlands.

Nolan posted an 18-37 record during his tenure as 49ers head coach.  The team showed sporadic improvement but obviously not enough to make the team a legitimate contender.  Nolan’s greatest contribution to the league was no doubt his stylish dress—he brought back the suit on the sidelines.  While the homage to legends like George Halas and Tom Landry was much needed in an era where coaching sartorial trends are defined by Bill Belichick’s “I just slept in my sweats and came straight to the game” look, it wasn’t enough for Nolan to keep his job.

The team will be coached in the short term by former Chicago Bears linebacking great Mike Singletary.  He’s been in charge of the team’s linebacking corps for the past two seasons, and this will be his first head coaching assignment.  Singletary was as good as it gets on the field, both as a player and as a team leader, and if he can translate his trademark intensity into the coaching realm he could produce significant improvement in the team.

Longterm, however, he’s already got some competition for keeping the job on a permanent basis.  With the dismissal of Nolan rumors began to immediately swirl around USC Trojans head coach Pete Carroll.  Carroll to the NFL rumors are as common as drunk, overweight shirtless men in stadiums on Sunday but this one makes a little more sense—Carroll once served as a 49ers assistant and clearly there’s little left for him to accomplish at the college level.  He didn’t exactly unequivocally deny these rumors with his comment that “There's no reason to respond."

Singletary has the table set perfectly to get his coaching career off to a winning start, as the 49ers are set to host struggling Seattle on Sunday.  He’ll then get a bye week before travelling to Tempe for a tough game against the Arizona Cardinals, then returning home to take on the St. Louis Rams.