But that's a tall order.

Singletary has a limited coaching background, but he has a great playing resume that put him in the Pro Football Hall of Fame. History tells us, however, that great players rarely make great coaches. Mike Ditka, the only Hall of Fame player who became a Super Bowl-winning coach, said that's because they don't have the patience to avoid being frustrated with players who don't do what they used to do.

Then again, few players, even Hall of Fame players, ever had Singletary's passion, and that's what has given him his head coaching opportunity just five seasons after he became a coach.

Ditka, who was Singletary's coach with the Chicago Bears, long has predicted coaching success for Singletary. So has Brian Billick, who hired Singletary for his first coaching gig, as Baltimore's linebackers coach in 2003.

"Mike analyzes everything," Billick said in a 2005 interview, after Singletary left the Ravens to become an assistant on the staff of the now-deposed Mike Nolan in San Francisco. "He works at his trade. He came into it new and spent countless hours learning the craft, talking with people around the league to find out what it is he needs to do and given that opportunity, how he would approach being a head coach. He's very detailed in his preparation. Mike's a very deep thinker and very passionate about the game, and those are two pretty good qualities to become a head coach."

In fact, Singletary went about his coaching opportunity the same way he made himself into a great player.

When he came into the league, critics said Singletary was too small and too short to succeed. He lacked the physical gifts of other players, but he was able to outwork them and outthink them. Ditka called him a "coach on the field," saying, "He was probably as well prepared to play as anybody on our team."

That preparation resulted in 10 consecutive Pro Bowl appearances and a first-ballot selection to the Hall of Fame.

"A lot of guys that played this game ... they had a lot of discipline, they had a gift," Singletary said shortly after he came to San Francisco. "For me, I had to develop the ability. I knew I wanted to play linebacker, and that was the best position for me. I was 'too short' and I was 'too slow' and all this other stuff, so I really had to train to get better and carve out what I wanted to be."