Mike Singletary began his career in the sport of football in the Evan E. Worthing High School in Houston. Born in Houston Texas, he started his career playing high school football. He went on to Baylor University for additional studies and earned the All America honors for both his junior and senior years there. Within this honorary team he managed to average 15 tackles per game as well as set a brand new record with 232 tackles in the year 1978. He also averaged 34 tackles in a single game up against the University of Houston within the same year. His outstanding performance earned him a place in All Southwest conference team and made him a 2 time recipient of the Davey OBrien Memorial Trophy.
In 1981 Mike Singletary became an integral part of the Chicago Bears as a starter. He was noticed in his third game that was being played against Kansas City Chiefs. As a starter this was his third game and he recorded an outstanding ten tackles. He further went on to play 172 games in his career spanning twelve years with the Chicago Bears.
Within his impressive career Mike Singletary recorded 1488 tackles. Out of these 885 were completely solo efforts. In the last eleven seasons of his career he finished as being the first or second lead tackler for the Chicago Bears. His personal best performance was in a game which was played against Denver Broncos during 1990. In this game he single handedly amassed ten tackles and ten assists. He has played in ten of the Pro-Bowl games and has been regarded the All Pro eight times.
Mike Singletary brought a serious amount of focus and intensity to the field as he entered, intimidating the opponent to a large degree. It absolutely was this sign of his that earned him the name of Samurai Mike, given by his teammates. He was also known as the “Minister for Defense” after he led the Chicago Bears to victory while in the 1985 season. His superb performance earned him the title of NFL Defensive Player of the Year, a title which he received again in the 1988 season. In 1995 he was made an integral part of the College Football Hall of fame and in 1998 he was elected to be a part of the Pro Football Hall of Fame. He’s also considered as one of the top hundred greatest football players, ranking 56th in a poll conducted by The Sporting News.
Mike Singletarys coaching career began in 2003 when he was given the position of the linebackers coach of the Baltimore Ravens. The following year, while in the 2004 season, he joined the San Francisco 49ers as their assistant head coach as well as their linebackers coach. This move ensued following Mike Nolan, who had been the head coach of the Baltimore ravens, relocate to the San Francisco 49ers as the head coach.
In 2008, he was made the interim coach of the team following Mike Nolan being fired. Singletary led the team through their season and were able to finish 5-4. He was finally offered the position of the teams head coach following a 49ers victory above the Washington Redskins, having a 4 year $10 million contract in December 2008.