What the Vikings lack is discipline and focus. The prevailing perception of Mike Tice is that he was a lug who let his players run wild. That may not be entirely true — the Vikings made an impressive recovery after a putrid start — but he has had an uphill climb since he got the job and never got the most out of his roster.

Whoever takes over for Tice will have a playoff-caliber team. That’s pressure in and of itself, but it’s preferable to becoming the next victim of Millen’s coaching meat grinder.

The Packers’ head coaching position is also appetizing. Sure, whoever takes over will have to continually deal with the Brett Favre issue — assuming Favre does indeed return for 2006 — but the new coach will be somewhat shielded, since Favre probably only has one more season in him. Then the Pack can discover whether it was a bonanza or a bust to get Aaron Rogers so low in last year’s first round.

And the Packers have enough players to compete. They just suffered from an overcrowded infirmary in 2005, especially when it came to targets for Favre. Next year the Pack should be in a more advantageous position, and consequently Favre won’t be ripped nationally for poor judgment under fire.

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In Kansas City, there’s a movement afoot to bring Herm Edwards there to replace Dick Vermeil. Edwards, though, seems to be leaning toward staying with the Jets — assuming the Jets want to keep him. They might just buy him a plane ticket to Kansas City and urge him to check out his options.

What happened to the Jets is hardly Edwards’ fault. When Chad Pennington went down, so did their season. Losing Curtis Martin didn’t help much, either. The Jets had one of those lost years that you just write off and forget. Edwards deserves to stay if he wants to. But the Chiefs have a franchise running back in Larry Johnson and an exceptional quarterback in Trent Green. Unless the Jets can snag Reggie Bush or Leinart with their fourth overall pick in the draft — and that’s highly unlikely — Edwards might want to give K.C. some serious consideration.

The Rams are also coachless, having severed ties with Mike Martz. While they’re not on the cusp of a Super Bowl title, they have had success in recent years and their roster is respectable. Martz simply had problems with the men upstairs, and as you know, the men upstairs — because they have the backing of the woman upstairs, owner Georgia Frontiere — always win. This is a potentially fertile situation for a new head coach.

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And then there are the Raiders. Norv Turner was hanging by a thread, then Al Davis cut it Tuesday afternoon. But what lunatic would want that job? Mike Tice? Jim Haslett? Mike Sherman? Dick Jauron? You’d have to be out of work, desperate and willing to take orders from a silver and black mummy to replace Turner. The Raiders just haven’t drafted well or put together an effective roster through free agency to make that job appealing.

The NFL job fair has all sorts of possibilities. Explore them, if you dare.