And right now, it looks like Wade Phillips leads Brad Childress by a car length.

Lots of chatter out there today that Phillips should be fired, as opposed to Childress, whom everyone says is hanging on by a thread. Brett "Which Limb Am I Missing This Week, Kids?" Favre might have saved Childress in Minnesota for the time being, but the Cowboys beyond pathetic showing in Green Bay last night may well have been the last straw for owner Jerry Jones, who seems to have taken Phillips' place as the postgame coach quote du jour.

Here's what I think: In different ways, both the Vikings' and Cowboys owners have stripped their head coaches of any real authority in their own locker rooms. Who's going to listen to Childress now that it's out there that the owner contemplated firing him after the Randy Moss fiasco? Who's been listening to Phillips for, oh, two years now?

Look, firing either head coach at midseason isn't going to accomplish much of anything for either franchise. They're both playing out the string at this point anyway, and they can do that just as well under Phillips and Childress as under whatever assistant coach the Cowboys and Vikings stick in there as a stopgap.

On the other hand ... firing both right now might be the merciful thing to do. Both are so completely powerless at this juncture that letting them dangle for eight more games is tantamount to torturing kittens.

So cut 'em loose. Not for the franchises' sake, but for theirs.

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