The Packers Have Regained Their Majik : Raiders: Quarterback showed against 49ers that he is back in top shape heading into today’s game at Coliseum.

In the NFL 1990, progress is sometimes measured by how well you lose to the San Francisco 49ers. The Green Bay Packers gave it their best shot last week, came up four points short, and are still talking playoffs at 3-5.

Bring on the Raiders.

The Majik Man, quarterback Don Majkowski, has apparently shed the cobwebs of a summer holdout and once again resembles a Pro Bowl quarterback. He almost beat San Francisco.

“He’s getting back in the groove again, and that’s bad news for us,” Raider Coach Art Shell said.

Tackle Tony Mandarich, the media-inflated tackle who couldn’t block wind as a rookie in 1989, allowed a harmless sack against the 49ers. Progress.

The Packers finished 10-6 last season and couldn’t make the playoffs. This season they are two games under .500 and right in the hunt. The NFL’s expanded playoff format, with an extra wild-card game having been added in each conference, has kept hope, and mediocrity, alive.

“Somebody sitting here at the halfway point with three wins is going to be in the playoffs,” Green Bay Coach Lindy Infante said.

For the Packers, the road back to break even winds through the “Black Bottom,” or “Shell’s Hell,” or whatever the Raiders are calling the Coliseum this week.

The Packers have beaten the Raiders once, 33-14, in Super Bowl II at Miami’s Orange Bowl in 1968. Since, the Raiders have won all five of their regular-season games. More intimidating, the Raiders are 10-0 against the league at the Coliseum under Shell.

The Packers understand that another defeat today would hurt, but it wouldn’t be the end of playoff dreams either, not in an age when the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at 4-5 would qualify as the third NFC wild-card team if the playoffs were to begin today.

Still, the Packers are not to be underestimated. Majkowksi, who jams with the heavy-metal group, Poison, is beginning to sling some venom of his own after a wobbly start. He completed 22 of 33 passes for 274 yards against the 49ers last week and is, with sincere apologies to Jim Taylor and the power sweep, the Packers’ leading rusher this season with 170 yards in 26 carries.

Mandarich, a Guns & Roses man himself, so much so that he had the words to one of that rock group’s songs tattooed on his arm, is starting to assert himself after his much-ballyhooed arrival as the No. 1 draft choice of 1989.

Mandarich, who couldn’t cut it at left tackle, has been moved to the right side, where fewer menacing pass rushers lurk. Mandarich is faring better but might never be able to live up to expectations.

Infante said, “There was a decision made that this guy was going to totally annihilate the left side of the defensive line, then run down and block both safeties, then go down and high-five the running back when he got in the end zone. I don’t think they’ve made an offensive lineman that can do that, nor do I think they ever will. So he’s doing the things that are asked of him, and I think he’s doing them fairly well.”

But what about all that Mandarich hype?

“Has anyone ever seen a guy negotiating a contract saying, ‘I’m really terrible, I hope I can just survive in this business?’ ” Infante said.

The Raiders, meanwhile, hope that life atop the AFC West lasts a few more weeks. They allowed a golden opportunity to slip away last weekend in Kansas City, when the Raiders (6-2) might have extended their divisional lead to three games with eight to play. Instead, they let a fourth-quarter lead slip away and now lead the Chiefs by one game.

Shell thinks his team needs only a minor tuneup after eight games. He sees no major slumps on the horizon.

“It’s my job to make sure they don’t have that,” Shell said. “There are times that you’re not going to play well, but you find a way to win, regardless. That’s what’s happening to the 49ers now. They have not been playing that well, but they’re finding a way to win. That’s the mark of a champion.”

The Raiders have a few cracks to seal, particularly on special teams, where two blocked punts and several costly penalties played a large part in both losses.

“It’s not for a lack of effort,” Shell said of his special teams’ play. “The guys are trying hard, they want to do well and make sure we get big plays. But sometimes in the process of trying so hard you make mental mistakes, mental errors.”

Raider Notes

The Packers held San Francisco to 34 yards rushing last week, the fewest surrendered by Green Bay in 49 games. . . . Packer linebacker Tim Harris, who had 19 1/2 sacks in 1989, has four through eight games this season.

Green Bay Quarterback Don Majkowksi suffered a sprained ankle in the second quarter of last Sunday’s game but missed only one play. He’s expected to start today against the Raiders. . . . The much-improved Raider offensive line has given up only 12 sacks this season.

Former linebacker Ted Hendricks, who played for both the Packers and the Raiders, will receive his Hall of Fame ring in a ceremony before today’s game. . . . Bo Jackson’s four-year rushing average of 5.3 yards per carry is the best in Raider history.