Here is a transcript from Mike Singletary’s Monday presser, just concluded.  Most of the reporters down here took a section of his 14-minute talk and transcribes — about two minutes apiece. I had the final two. Here goes:

Q: How did Alex do?
A: You know, I thought he did a decent job. He had a good week and he had a decent job.
Q: Does practice tell you how the team will play?
A: First of all, they did have a good week of practice last week. Sometimes, I would say most of the time I would say when they have a good week of practice they will play well. Sometimes it backfires, but I would say for the most part when they practice well they play well.

Q: What changed in practice last week?
A: I just think guys being excited about the opportunity to play a division game, and just taking it one at a time. I think the guys were excited about the opportunity.

Q: Did certain aspects of the game plan open up with Alex in there?
A: I think as far as adjustments go, I don’t think Alex made many adjustments. I think the biggest thing was during the week we were able to do some of the things that we worked on in training camp and some of the things that Alex was familiar with, because since we started the season… just to go back to those things. It had some of those changes into the play. That’s some of what we gained with having Alex in there.

Q: How do you practice with a short week?
A: I think at the end of the day today, just really seeing how many guys come in, how many guys are banged up, the type of injuries, to what degree, and visiting with our trainers and strength and conditioning coaches and coming up with the best solution.

Q: Mike Iupati’s status?
A: It’s just going to be a day-to-day situation with him. Thankfully, day-to-day.
Q: Any reason you’re better in your division than outside of it?

A: Not really.

Q: Don’t seem to be animated on the sideline lately? Is that a conscious choice?
A: I think more than anything else it’s just probably just a progression. You get to the point where you realize that the referees are going to call what they’re going to call and there’s only so much of that that you can control and you want make sure – my big thing is body language of the players, making sure that the coaches are on time and getting things in. Making sure that the quarterback has time to get the call and really deal with the offense so it’s really kind of honing in on those things.

Q: Talk to Leslie Frazier. Off him an advice?
A: As far as advice is concerned, I really don’t give a lot of advice unless someone really presses it. But Leslie’s one of my best friends and we talk from time, but, um, only when he asks.

Q: Has he asked?
A: Yes.
Q: (Garbled)?
A: In all honesty I just really felt looking at what the expectations were and where we are right now it’s just a matter of working toward that point. And getting toward that point. What we saw yesterday was just a good indication of the growing pains of this team and getting to the place where you understand that you go out, you play the game, you do what you’re coached to do. You don’t press things and let the game come to you and just be true and honest to the game and things will work out on both sides of the ball

Q: Has this team met expectations?
A: For me it’s just from week to week. They met them yesterday

Q: Last year you had a Thursday game against the Bears. Did you go back and look at that as a template for how you approach this week’s game?

A: Last year, that game it was different. Circumstances were different. I think our team, it was a little earlier in the season if I’m not mistaken. Maybe not. (second week of November) OK, but it was just different. I think from week to week the games are different. But in terms of what we did last year during that week, you have to go back and look at it and adjust accordingly.

Q: I assume this season has been interesting for you because of what went on. Has it been fun for you?

A: Fun is um, I would say this: It’s been gratifying, let’s put it that way. Not fun. Certainly fun at times, but for the team, for the staff, for myself, it’s really been a lot of things learned in this season – about myself, about the team, about the progression of trying to build something. So more than anything gratifying to see where we were at the beginning of the season, to see how green we were, to see how much we had to learn, how much we had to work through. The most gratifying thing is to see this team continue to fight week in and week out. That’s the thing that really excites me about this team. They always look ahead. They’re willing to work their tails off, and so that’s the thing I look at.

Q:  What have you learned about yourself this season?

A: The biggest thing is when you look at how the season has gone, looking at all the stuff that evolves in a season like this, just being able to really help the team stay focused and, at the same time, make sure that the coaching staff and the team is on the same page. So the leadership point from my behalf, managing all of that stuff, making sure that everybody is staying focused in terms of what we need to do, what the goal is. Sometimes we have a vision at the beginning of the season and it hasn’t changed, but the circumstances sometimes change, and just making sure that the coaching staff understands that this is still the vision. It’s not going to change. Making sure the players understand, ‘This is the vision and it’s not going to change’ and continue to stay on course. That’s the thing, and because you have a good coaching staff, and because you have a team with a lot of character, we’re able to do that. That’s kind of where I fit into that.

Q:  Have you become a better coach?
A: We’ll see at the end of the season.

Q: Would you consider it progress if you went 7-9 and won the division?
A: I consider this: we had a win yesterday, we move forward from that. We’re going to try to get a win on Thursday. That’s all I consider right now.

Q: What is the vision you’re talking about?
A: The vision is having a successful season, the vision is being good enough to take this team to winning the division. That’s the vision.

Q: How was the defense yesterday and how will that help prepare for Rivers?
A: They did a nice job. They read their keys, they tackled better, as a defense they did a nice job. They were just patient. Everybody did their job, everybody was on the same page, communicated well, and it worked out well.

Q: You said you want to keep your players focused. Alex’s teammates said he was different in practice this week. And Alex said he was more patient and made better decisions. Did you have any conversations with him?
A: we have a lot of conversations but not trying to tell him something that he didn’t already know. I think sometimes it’ll be interesting to see how we play on Thursday. We just have to work our tails off, stay focused, work through some of the injuries, work through some of the other stuff and be ready to play a heck of a game on Thursday. For me that’s the most important thing right now.

Q: What is the status of Will James? It was a very severe concussion?
A: Yes.

Q: Will he play Thursday?
A: It’s possible. We’ll see when everything’s all said and done in terms of the testing. We think he’s coming to the end of it but we’ll see.

Q: Most teams have a game or a specific moment when they define themselves. Have you had a game where you said, “OK, now I know what I have on my team or are you still searching for that game?”
A: Still searching. Still searching.

Q: You said before you don’t pay attention to criticism. Is there a way you can look at the San Diego game, your last regular season game outside the division, national TV, as a chance to prove to people the team is better than the national perception of it?
A: One of the things I don’t ever want to do is talk to our team about proving things to anybody outside of this team. I just think it’s very important for us to focus on the things we need to focus on and that’s this game coming up on Thursday. Practice as hard as we possibly can which won’t be much this week, but make sure the mental part of our game and our preparation is in place and everything else will take care of itself. That’s it.