Nolan was in his fourth season with the 49ers and had an 18-37 record. He was 2-1 at the start of the season, but lost four straight, falling to 2-5. The 49ers have had five straight losing seasons and three of those were under Nolan.
Nolan's first pick as head coach was quarterback Alex Smith who turned out to be a bust. The team has fallen under repair since and has not had a consistent quarterback as a result.
The current team leads the league in turnovers and sacks and had 13 penalties in Sunday's loss to the Giants. That usually tells you that it is undisciplined play and means the team has quit on their coach.
Earlier on Monday, Nolan was asked if he was worried about his job.
"The decision belongs to the ownership. They have to go through the same process," said Nolan. "Obviously I've made some changes since I've been here also because I have felt that maybe it was more specific than everything around that person and whether that be players, that be coaches, I would expect my employer to do the same thing with me."
Linebacker coach Mike Singletary is the most likely candidate to take over. He has never held a head coaching position at any level, but I think the players will rally around him. This way, the 49ers can see if it will work with Singletary, and if not, then they can start their search in the off-season.
I think the news leaked out that Nolan was to be fired in the bye week, so owner John York decided to pull the trigger Monday instead of waiting.
Across the bay, the Oakland Raiders dumped their head coach, Lane Kiffin, just three weeks ago.
