49ers Blog and Q&A

Team president and CEO Jed York made a brief appearance in the locker room following his team's lackluster 25-17 loss to the Rams. York revealed that he would hire a general manager moving forward and that he and the new GM would make decisions about the team's head coaching position. York said that vice president of player personnel Trent Baalke would be in the mix for the position.

While York did not say whether Mike Singletary would be fired, he said he had not decided yet whether Singletary even would coach Sunday's finale against the Cardinals. York said he was most disappointed that the mistake-prone 49ers did not rise to the magnitude of today's game.

Q: Will Singletary be the head coach next week?

JY We want to take our time before we make any decision like that. You don't want to make an emotional decision right now after the game.

Is that something you might want to talk about on the plane ride home?

JY: Obviously, we didn't achieve the things the things we set out to achieve. We should be a playoff team. We aren't a playoff team this year. I'm very disappointed about that. We need to figure out how we can get into the playoffs and how we can start to be a Super Bowl team again.

If you change a coach it will take money. Is that a problem?

JY: Money is no object. Our object is to win the Super Bowl, year in and year out, to be there. We're going to make sure we get this right.

Cameras caught the Singletary-Troy Smith feud. What's your reaction when you see that?

JY: I'm not worried about individual things like that. What bothers me is that we came into in this playoff-caliber game and we didn't get it done and that's the bottom line.

What's the most disappointing thing?

JY: I think focus. I mean, we come into a game like this and we look inept on offense in the first half. We didn't get anything done except for two plays that, really, players made. (Crabtree) made a great play. (Ginn) makes a nice play on the punt return. We aren't where we need to be. I'm not taking anything away from the Rams. I'm not taking anything away from the Seahawks. I wish those teams the best of luck going forward. Somebody has to win the NFC West. There's an opportunity for one of those teams to win it at 8-8.

Do the 49ers have enough talent to be the kind of team that you envisioned?

JY: Absolutely. We need to keep getting better. But we have enough talent that we should have been the NFC West champion and we should have been competing in the playoffs.

So is it coaching?

JY: I think there's a combination of a lot of things and we haven't put it all together yet.

What about quarterback?

JY: We can't get a quarterback until the draft, really. Is that a need? Yeah, absolutely.

Looking ahead to next year, do you need a coach that can get a quarterback ready to play?

JY: We need our entire team to be ready to play. It's not just one position. Obviously, it starts with the quarterback. We need the entire team to be ready to play. We can't come out and have our offense play good one week, our defense play good one week, our special teams play good one week. We need to do it all together.

Could you hire a general manager?

JY: Yes.

Is he on your staff or is it something you'll have a search for?

JY: We'll have a search.

Would a general manager then make a coaching decision? What order is this going to happen?

JY: We'll have a general manager, and as we move forward, that will be something that the general manager and I will discuss together.

Do you have a time line on a general manager?

JY: No.

-- Matt Barrows