Mike Tice couldn’t stop the off-the-field embarrassments from piling up in Minnesota. Dom Capers couldn’t stop the terrible losses from dragging down Houston.

Tice and Capers became the NFL’s first postseason coaching casualties Sunday in what could be a year of major offseason changes.

Less than an hour after the Vikings beat Chicago, 34-10, Minnesota announced that Tice’s contract would not be renewed by owner Zygi Wilf.

After Houston lost in San Francisco, a person close to the Houston Texans organization told the Associated Press that Capers would be fired after a 2-14 season, but that general manager Charley Casserly would be retained. The official announcement will come today, according to the source, who requested anonymity.

There are likely to be more.

There were only three new coaches this season, and vacancies tend to even out. Since the merger of the AFL and NFL in 1970, there have been an average of nearly six vacancies a year, meaning that changes could exceed that number.

There are now four: Detroit’s Steve Mariucci was fired on Nov. 28, and 69-year-old Dick Vermeil of the Chiefs retired after Sunday’s game.

Several others finished the season unsure of their futures.

“The things you don’t have control over, you don’t worry about,” Green Bay’s Mike Sherman said after his Packers beat Seattle backups, 23-17, to finish at 4-12. “I have control over my attitude, my perception, how I do things, and you do the very best job you can. Other people have control over other things and you let them do their jobs.”

Others in trouble include Norv Turner of Oakland and Mike Martz of St. Louis, who has been on medical leave. Turner said Sunday he would like to know as soon as possible whether he will be fired – he still has a year left on his contract, worth about $1.75 million.

“Change the coaches? We tried that one,” cornerback Nnamdi Asomugha said after the Raiders finished 4-12. “Change the players? We tried that one. Maybe we need to stop changing, and then we can start to grow. Maybe that’s the key. We have been doing a lot of changing since I have been here. I don’t know how much that has helped us.”

Still, that normally doesn’t help coaches on losing teams.

Buffalo owner Ralph Wilson, whose Bills finished 5-11, said Sunday there would be changes in his team’s organization. He has indicated coach Mike Mularkey’s job appears to be safe. However, team president Tom Donahoe could be out.

There also has been speculation Bill Parcells might step down in Dallas, but Parcells has not addressed his future.

The list of potential successors in all cases starts with two successful college coaches with NFL experience: Notre Dame’s Charlie Weis and Southern California’s Pete Carroll, both of whom got contract extensions at their schools. Kirk Ferentz of Iowa, also a former NFL assistant, is likely to get overtures, and so is Oklahoma’s Bob Stoops, who could be one of the candidates to replace Vermeil.

The leading candidates among NFL assistants include Gregg Williams, Washington’s assistant head coach for defense, who is a former head coach in Buffalo, along with defensive coordinators Ron Rivera of Chicago and Tim Lewis of the New York Giants and offensive coordinator Brad Childress of Philadelphia.

Williams, Rivera and Lewis are all in the playoffs with their teams, meaning they can be interviewed by teams with vacancies during a short window, but not hired until their teams are eliminated.

If their teams reach the Super Bowl, that means they will have to wait until after the game on Feb. 5, a delay that in the past kept such coaches as Weis and Cleveland’s Romeo Crennel, who came from New England; Cincinnati’s Marvin Lewis (Baltimore); and Carolina’s John Fox (Giants) on the market for an extra year.

Martz, who coached the Rams to the Super Bowl after the 2001 season, also could be considered for openings. And even Mariucci, whom Brett Favre likes, might be considered in Green Bay along with Childress, who coaches the Packers’ system, and Lewis, a former Packer. There also has been speculation New York Jets coach Herman Edwards could move to Kansas City, where he first worked after his playing career and where he still has ties to the organization. Edwards has been told his job is safe after a 4-12 season in which his team was beset by injuries.