Did the Green Bay Packers Get Brad Childress and Wade Phillips Fired?

It's no coincidence that two NFL coaches got the ax within weeks of one another.  That usually happens in a profession where results are demanded on a weekly basis.

Wade Phillips and Brad Childress were fired from their head coaching jobs.  That wasn't a surprise, because both the Dallas Cowboys and Minnesota Vikings were in a downward spiral.

That wasn't the case last season when both teams made the playoffs and played each other in the NFC Divisional Playoffs.

Both Dallas and Minnesota are long shots to make the playoffs this year and the Green Bay Packers helped determine the fate of Wade and Childress.

I say that because when the Packers beat the Vikings at Lambeau Field, they ruined Brett Favre's homecoming and his ego.  His spirit was crushed after they lost to the Packers at home and were swept by their arch rivals to the south.

That whole soap opera in Minnesota was unraveling before Green Bay came to the Metrodome, Nov. 21.  It came to a head when the fans chanted for Childress to be fired.

Let's see. Favre and the other players didn't listen to Childress and no one trusted the head coach.  As a result, most of us believe that Childress lost control of the team.

Down in big "D", Jerry Jones was as disappointed of an owner could be.  They were already 1-6 when they rolled into Lambeau on Nov. 7.  The Packers dismantled them so badly that Jones didn't allow Phillips to ride on the team plane. 

Jones, to his credit, just wanted to have his last man-to-man discussion with Phillips before he laid the hammer on him.  The whole world knew what was really going to happen.

Both teams had problems before Green Bay played them.  The Packers' dominance made the coaching futures of Wade and Phillips less painful for fans of both teams.