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The job of an NFL head coach only got tougher last week, and it will get significantly tougher this week.

Minnesota Vikings coach Brad Childress was able to get back his quarterback, Brett Favre, but he had to endure stories about a strained relationship with the passer and how much authority he sacrifices by letting Favre be Favre. Clearly, Childress is doing a tightrope act to appease a 40-year-old quarterback who is still good enough to get the Vikings to a conference championship game and maybe the Super Bowl.

Meanwhile, the training camp portion of preseason work ended for the Washington Redskins, but coach Mike Shanahan is still battling Albert Haynesworth over conditioning and other things. In the past couple of decades, no coach has had more control and authority than Shanahan, who ran the Broncos as if he owned the team. Those not on the same page usually boarded one-way flights leaving the Mile High City.

Shanahan ultimately will get his way, but hearing Haynesworth voice his displeasure over how Shanahan is using him with the second-half backups is almost unprecedented.

The head-coaching job for future years will get tougher this week, when NFL owners are expected to rubber-stamp a plan to expand the 2012 regular season to 18 games. To do so, the league will start working with the players' union to revise the offseason schedule. Expect a significant drop in OTAs -- those organized training activities that are supposedly voluntary but really aren't. Expect the enhanced schedule to shorten the time players can be pushed to train in team facilities.

If the regular season is extended, training camps as we know them will never be the same. Coaches will have only two preseason games to figure out rosters and prepare their players for the regular season whether they like it or not. Favre might be OK with that, as he had his way in blowing off the training camp part of the summer to spend more time in Mississippi.

"In college, you practice three weeks before you play a game," Favre said after Sunday's exhibition game against the 49ers. "I think physically speaking, as players get older, the chemistry, the camaraderie, all of those things are very important. If you can get that in college in a short amount of time, you can obviously get it in pro football because you spend a lot more time in pro football on football. You don't have to worry about class and things like that. There are some other restrictions in college football.

"If it is eight weeks of training camp, then it is eight weeks. If it is two weeks, it is whatever anyone else is doing really. I keep using college as an example. As much time as we spend in pro football, you still make a ton of mistakes. … If it is two preseason games, which I would much rather have, then you go in, knock it out and do it for real."

LUKE23 wrote:I'd say with a 12.5% increase in regular season games, you can expect a 12.5% increase in injuries on average. That means more teams affected in the postseason because of adding the extra games. You also have less practice/training/evaluation time to make decision for coaches on keeping players and players improving in the offseason. Terrible.

LUKE23 wrote:I'd say with a 12.5% increase in regular season games, you can expect a 12.5% increase in injuries on average. That means more teams affected in the postseason because of adding the extra games. You also have less practice/training/evaluation time to make decision for coaches on keeping players and players improving in the offseason. Terrible.

crkone wrote:

LUKE23 wrote:I'd say with a 12.5% increase in regular season games, you can expect a 12.5% increase in injuries on average. That means more teams affected in the postseason because of adding the extra games. You also have less practice/training/evaluation time to make decision for coaches on keeping players and players improving in the offseason. Terrible.

And expect a 12.5% increase in profit.

And expect a 12.5% increase in profit.

Newz wrote:

crkone wrote:

LUKE23 wrote:I'd say with a 12.5% increase in regular season games, you can expect a 12.5% increase in injuries on average. That means more teams affected in the postseason because of adding the extra games. You also have less practice/training/evaluation time to make decision for coaches on keeping players and players improving in the offseason. Terrible.

And expect a 12.5% increase in profit.

I actually think it's a great decision for the league financially. As a fan though, I'm not a fan of it.

cb4_89 wrote:Well every record will have an asterisk next to it pretty much unless the person beats whatever someone did in 16 games.

Bucksfans1and2 wrote:Any chance the players use this as a chip to demand more money (aka Lockout)?

Say, "when we agreed to this contract it was understood that we would be playing 16 games plus playoffs, nobody said anything about 18 games."

InsideOut wrote:I would rather they play 18 real games and two fake games that the current 16 real games and 4 fake games. It sucks to have to pay full price for those preseason tickets and then have to sell them at half price or even give them away. The starters play a quarter in the first game and then it just becomes a joke. I just don't see a reason for 4 preseason games and it also adds to the risk of injury.

LUKE23 wrote:

InsideOut wrote:I would rather they play 18 real games and two fake games that the current 16 real games and 4 fake games. It sucks to have to pay full price for those preseason tickets and then have to sell them at half price or even give them away. The starters play a quarter in the first game and then it just becomes a joke. I just don't see a reason for 4 preseason games and it also adds to the risk of injury.

There will be MORE injuries that can actually negatively effect the team for when it counts if you play two more regular season games. A NFL season is already a big enough grind, adding two more games just increases the chances (likely exponentially) of more injuries that will suck for those fans during playoff time.

A better option is to just have two preseason games, and spread them out so the 2nd one is two weeks before opening weekend, so teams have a chance to continue to practice and get over any injuries heading into the regular season. If you play 18 regular season games with the two preseason games leading right up to the regular season, no coach is going to play anyone significant in those games for fear of injury. You also have less information available for coaches to make decisions on players.

The only positive I can possibly see for 18 games is that it makes the league and owners more money. And I could give a damn about that.