As the Super Bowl rapidly approaches and the fans turn their eyes to the few remaining football teams in contention, the dredges of the NFL quietly begin their spring cleaning while trying to gain as little attention as possible.

And while the owners of the teams can be given credit for knowing the quietest time to get rid of the coaches that they personally hired a few years ago, one has to wonder about the fairness of their cutthroat policies.

With names such as George Seifert, Tony Dungy and Dennis Green now floating in football limbo, the question is whether they really merited the credit for their team’s respective horrible seasons or if maybe, just maybe, the actual players caused their teams to have shitty seasons.

First, the Carolina Panthers: With a very young Chris Weinke thrust in the starting quarterback role with no dominant runningback, what do the owners expect Seifert to do? He has no star players and a defense like a sieve that gave up 48 touchdowns this year.

How much impact do owners expect coaches to have in actual football games? Sure, they are the ones selecting the plays, the ones implementing offensive and defensive schemes, the chessmasters who respond to every opponent’s move. But when it comes down to it, it’s the players who have to execute on the field.

Now the Minnesota Vikings are another story. With pouty star Randy Moss whining about not receiving enough passes and telling the press outright on more than one occasion that he doesn’t try his hardest, the enlightened owners decided to dump Green instead of their multi-million, 24-year-old baby.

Now, I think owners should fire coaches if the team refuses to play for the coach, but not if only one player decides he doesn’t like his coach because the coach’s plays aren’t padding his stats enough.

This is a testament to the tremendous power individual athletes are gaining today. As stars’ egos rise along with their paychecks, one has to wonder in which direction professional sports are heading. Back in the old days, players were sold or traded without having any say in the decision; now they pretty much have their pick of where to go, and for what pay.

And what can anybody do to stop this trend? The commissioner’s office can impose petty fines for not properly representing the league, but the mere hundreds of thousands of dollars they level at athletes can be found in the folds of their satin sofas. The stars can’t be traded because the fans develop attachments to players and riot when their top producers are sent away.

So when these ego-driven players have poor seasons due to injury or “”not trying their best”” or whatever, it’s the coaches who get the axe and several million dollars that could be spent on a good offensive threat or stalwart defender is wasted on yet another faceless coach who desperately attempts to climb out of the same holes as his predecessor.

Maybe when the players start feuding with the owners and attempt to raise the fans against the person who writes their paychecks, the owners might be able to finally see past the players’ egos and see what they have created.