It’s amazing to me that certain teams wait until today — the official end of the NFL regular season — to start firing coaches. What good reason was there to let Romeo Crennel hang around in Cleveland? Or Rod Marinelli in Detroit? Sure, Mike Singletary — after leading the 49ers to respectability only a few short weeks after dropping his drawers in front of the team — proves the exception to the rule, but for the most part it seems odd to let coaches hang around.

Of course, all of that is for naught now that Marinelli, Crennel and Eric Mangini of the Jets have been canned. Briefly, why:

• Marinelli — The Lions went 0-16, which is, um, not “good.” He might not have completely deserved to get fired (the totality of blame lies on Matt Millen) but a full house cleaning is what’s best for a franchise in this kind of despair. See: Dolphins, Miami or Falcons, Atlanta.
• Crennel — The Browns became the Seattle Mariners of the NFL, falling back to Urf in the most speedy of fashions. Crennel stuck with Derek Anderson too long, Braylon Edwards can’t catch the ball, but mostly, he’s a very, very bad game manager. That’s not a trait you want in your head coach.
• Mangini — An inexplicable love for Brett Favre by Woody Johnson. Sure, he’s a grizzled, Wrangler-ensconced gunslinger. We get that.  And sure, Mangini spent the last month coaching with two hands around his neck, but it’s just ridiculous to fire him while taking Favre’s side.

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Imagine, if you will, that you are a member of the San Fransisco 49ers. (You’d probably need to grow five inches and put on 100 pounds in this scenario.) Mike Nolan was your coach just a short time ago, and he had a penchant for sharp suits on the sideline. He looked smooth, suave, debonaire. Then the 49ers fired Nolan and hired linebackers coach Mike Singletary. He acted a bit off-kilter at his postgame press conference Sunday, but that was AFTER HE DROPPED HIS PANTS FOR SEVERAL MINUTES IN THE LOCKER ROOM.

At halftime of that game, Singletary called for the attention of his players.   He then dropped his pants, turned around and pointed to his backside.  He used this occasion and that visual to describe what happened to his team in the first half.

A NFL source inside the room confirmed the story with my radio partner, XTRA 910 football guru Mike Jurecki, and added that Singletary then addressed the team for 3-4 minutes with his pants around his ankles.

Mike Singletary is kind of like that crazy uncle that shows up at Thanksgiving every year and makes a scene over how undercooked the chicken is. And I love it.

Also see: FanHouse

I caught part of the above Mike Singletary postgame press conference live yesterday (vid ht: BSO), and thought one thing to myself: This man seems a bit agitated. And sort of insane. He also looks like he’s about the jump out from behind the podium and tackle the nearest reporter.

Much of the ire in that opening statement came from his feelings towards Vernon Davis, who decided it would be a good idea to tap on Seahawk free safety Brian Russell’s facemask in the third quarter. He got an unnecessary-roughness penalty for that. Singletary promptly ripped him out of the game and sent him to the locker room with 10 minutes left. Mike Singletary does not mess around. Mike Nolan he is not.

Keep in mind, this was his first first postgame press conference as a head coach. I’m sort of worried about next week; I hope he doesn’t have a heart attack.