Hours after the 49ers lost to the Rams on Dec. 26, 2010, head coach Mike Singletary was fired.
On Jan. 7, 2011, the 49ers introduced Jim Harbaugh as their new head coach.
Harbaugh led San Francisco to the NFC title game in his first season, the Super Bowl in Year 2, and another NFC Championship Game appearance in his third season at the helm.
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"I was happy for the players," Singletary told Tim Kawakami of the San Jose Mercury News during Super Bowl week. "I told them that they were champions and they could be champions. And I was glad that he (Harbaugh) got to finish what I felt I had started. It was very rewarding for the guys to have a chance to have some success."
[REWIND: What we didn't know about Singletary's 49ers tenure]
Singletary replaced Mike Nolan after the 49ers got off to a 2-5 start in 2008. The Red and Gold went 5-4 the rest of that campaign.
San Francisco went 8-8 during Singletary's first full year on the job and had high expectations entering the 2010 season.
San Francisco 49ers
But once the 49ers were eliminated from playoff contention in Week 16, Singletary's tenure came to an end with one game remaining in the regular season.
"It was numbing. It was 'wow,'" Singletary explained. "So I'm not gonna have a chance to finish this thing? But as I look back on that time, it was a tough time but it was also one of the best times. Because I really believe from that time to this time, if I was supposed to be here, I'd be here.
"It was time for me to move on and continue to learn, continue to get better, and gain the knowledge and experience that I have now."
What does he think about the current state of the franchise?
"I think of an organization that wants to win," Singletary said. "That's one of the best things about San Francisco. They want to win. Sometimes, what happens after that is something different. But they do want to win and that's very important. A lot of teams in the league just want to compete. They don't want to win."
From 2011 to 2013, Singletary was assistant head coach/linebackers coach with the Vikings.
He was not retained when Mike Zimmer took over in 2014.
Although he's been out of the league the past two seasons, he wants to return to the NFL. As a head coach.
"I'm gonna do the things I need to do to be back," Singletary declared. "And when I do come back, it should be interesting."
What could he have done differently with the 49ers?
"A lot of things I could have done better," Singletary said. "Could have had a few better coaches. Could have handled some things differently. But at the end of the day, I didn't. It's just where I was.
"And after five years in the league, you get a chance to be a head coach, you think you know, and you don't. But the best thing thing about where I was at that time, is I knew how to build a foundation. Didn't quite know how to build a wall, but I knew how to build a foundation."