Singletary hired by Niners
Though Mike Singletary stayed away from the NFL for a decade after his playing career, he never lost his love for football. The Hall of Fame linebacker believes he can instill a bit of his famed competitive fire in the young San Francisco 49ers.
Singletary was hired as the 49ers’ assistant head coach and linebackers coach Friday, following new coach Mike Nolan from Baltimore. Singletary was the Ravens’ inside linebackers coach for two seasons while Nolan was defensive coordinator.
Singletary, a star linebacker for the Chicago Bears from 1981-92, is the first coach hired by Nolan in his rebuilding effort with the 49ers, who had the NFL’s worst record this season at 2-14.
“When I went to the Chicago Bears, it was a train wreck there,” Singletary said. “There are train wrecks all over the place. I’m in the business of correcting what’s wrong. … There’s a lot of talent on this team, and there’s a lot of young guys. It’s all about believing that we can be an elite team, that we can get back to what we had before.”
Rams fire assistant coach
The St. Louis Rams fired special teams coach Mike Stock on Friday and replaced him with Bob Ligashesky, who becomes the fourth man to try and turn around a unit that has struggled since Mike Martz took over as head coach in 2000.
The Rams ranked at or near the bottom of the NFL in all special teams categories this season. In a season-ending 47-17 playoff loss at Atlanta last Saturday, the Falcons’ Allen Rossum had an NFL playoff record 152 punt return yards, including a 68-yard touchdown return.
It’s gonna be cold outside
Philadelphia could get the worst of the snowstorm, which is predicted to start early this morning in western Pennsylvania and spread across the state. The National Weather Service predicts 4 to 8 inches in both cities, but State College, Pa.-based Accuweather is calling for 6 to 12 inches in Pittsburgh and as much or more with blizzard-like conditions in Philadelphia.
Once the snow clears out, a gametime temperature of 18 with a minus-7 wind-chill factor is predicted for the late afternoon Falcons-Eagles NFC championship game in frigid Philadelphia. Forecasters are calling for 16-degree temperatures and a wind chill around 10 for the early evening Patriots-Steelers AFC championship game in Pittsburgh.