Patrick Willis never will forget one of his first 49ers practices in 2007. The then-rookie inside linebacker was going against guard Larry Allen, one of the biggest and most powerful men who ever played in the NFL, when he heard Mike Singletary's voice ring out behind him. "He said, 'Hey, what are you doing, son?' " Willis said. "And I looked around and said, 'What do you think I'm doing? I'm trying to get around this big dude.' " That's not how you do it, Singletary told Willis, he wanted the young linebacker to go straight at the imposing guard. "And I'm thinking to myself, I don't know physics, but … " Willis said. "But from that point on, I got to the mindset where it was like, OK, if that's what he wants, that's what I'm going to do." Singletary will be on the opposite sideline when Willis and the 49ers take on the Vikings on Sunday, the first regular-season game in which the 49ers have faced their former coach since he was let go during the 2010 season. Other players this week had a harder time describing Singletary's legacy with the 49ers, but none had an ill word for their former coach and all who were asked said they were eager to shake his hand before the game. Source: Sacramento Bee
as much as people said singletary was a bad coach, i believe he toughened a lot of the players on this team and made harbaugh's job a helluva lot easier.
