"It's a tremendous opportunity," Singletary said. "It's going to be a physical game, a black-and-blue game. It's going to be cold. (The) weather's not going to be great, so it sounds perfect."

--Quarterback Shaun Hill has done a commendable job in three starts this season. He has completed 60.3 percent of his passes while throwing seven touchdowns and three interceptions. Even though he has a 94.3 passer rating, Hill expects more of himself.

"The longer that I'm in this role, I do raise the bar and expect more out of myself each and every week," Hill said. "I feel like there's a whole lot more upside there than some other people think.

"Every week (I'm) just trying to improve and hold myself to a higher standard each and every week."

--Although the 49ers are all but out of the playoff picture, a lot of people are coaching and playing for their jobs next season. But Singletary said he is not approaching the remainder of the season as an audition.

"The mindset is you don't really audition. You just do your job every day," Singletary said. "I'm not auditioning. I'm just doing my job. Everything else will take care of itself. Either it's good enough or it's not. But I don't put a cloud over anybody's head. I certainly don't put one over my own."

--Cornerback Nate Clements is coming off his worst performance in two seasons with the 49ers. He surrendered a good portion of Terrell Owens' 213 receiving yards on Sunday against the Dallas Cowboys in last week's game.

But Clements, exhibiting a trait of top cornerbacks, has apparently put it behind him, as he gets set to face his former team.

"Last week's game?" Clements said. "I'm focused on moving forward. As a corner, you have to look at it as water off a duck's back - let it just roll right off you. You have to get ready for next week."

--Singletary was never a coordinator in his six seasons as an NFL assistant coach, and he is not imposing his will when it comes to developing the team's game plan every week. So what does he do when the plan is being put together to face the upcoming opponent?

"My focus," Singletary said, "is mainly on the players and the staff. Where are they? Because I want to make sure that Greg (Manusky) and Mike (Martz) aren't coming in here thinking, 'Man, we're just not very good. We don't have a chance.' So the game plan is going to reflect that. The way they going about doing the game plan is going to reflect that. The way they respond to their coaches is going to reflect that. I don't want that."

BY THE NUMBERS: 27 -- The league-worst number of giveaways the 49ers have committed this season. The 49ers are tied for worst in the league with 14 interceptions and they lead the league with 13 lost fumbles.

QUOTE TO NOTE: "We're a team that lacks confidence. When you lack confidence as a group, it's hard to get everybody to believe, 'OK, we just need to make a play here and the momentum will change.' I've seen the bottom of the barrel. That's not us." -- 49ers linebacker Takeo Spikes.