Vikings Are Down, but Not Out at Home : Raiders: Minnesota, 19-2 in the Metrodome since 1988, will try to stymie L.A. today.

Clinching a playoff spot was last week’s news for the Raiders, who enter Minnesota’s temple-of-doom dome today hoping to secure some vacation time before postseason assignments.

The signposts are clear: The Raiders, at 10-4, have a magic number of two to clinch the AFC West, meaning any combination of Raider victories and Kansas City losses totaling two would give the Raiders the division title and a first-round bye.

The Raiders can make it simple by defeating the Vikings today in the Metrodome and San Diego at the Coliseum Dec. 30. If they split, or lose both, they need help from the Chiefs, who will close the season on the road against the Chargers Sunday and the Chicago Bears next Saturday.

The Raiders remain the only team to win the Super Bowl as a wild-card entrant, in 1980. That was nice . . . once.

“If you don’t win the division, you’ve got to play three games before the big game,” Raider Coach Art Shell said Friday. “We’d rather have the bye. They understand that.”

You figure the Vikings (6-8) are easy marks without 1989’s defensive player of the year, Keith Millard? You’ve seen the standings. You come in, maybe pick up a new Christmas bobsled for Herschel Walker, take care of business, then get to the airport and de-ice the wings. If there weren’t Rams in the world, the Vikings would be the busts of 1990. Big talent, big dreams and big trades have produced nothing but big problems.

The front office claimed to be making a Super Bowl push in 1989, selling its future to Dallas--five players, eight draft choices--for the rights to tailback Walker, who gained 148 yards in his debut Oct. 15, 1989, and hasn’t cracked 100 yards in any game since. Walker thought he was misused and cried in a national magazine story that was headlined: “I Am Not a Dog.”

Today, the Cowboys, who have yet to cash in their Walker draft prizes, are a game ahead of the Vikings for the final NFC wild-card spot.

Where did it go wrong?

For starters, Minnesota lost Millard, its star defensive tackle, in Week 4. The Vikings skidded to 1-6. In the meantime, the team’s general manager, Mike Lynn, accepted another job with a spring football league, leaving his legacy--or his lunacy.

The coach, Jerry Burns, will turn 64 Jan. 24. How long can he take it? One more season, apparently. Burns announced this week that he wanted to fulfill the last year of his contract, if nothing else.

Burns was energized by a five-game winning streak that put the Vikings at 6-6, but they have lost two in a row. Their starting quarterback, Wade Wilson, has recently returned to the lineup after a thumb injury.

This week, Wilson wondered what happened to his team’s season. Something has been missing.

“The heartfelt emotion,” he said. “Not the shallow rah-rah stuff you get before the game, just the emotion, the desire to find a way to get it done somehow. You just don’t feel that over the last year. . . . With all the problems we’ve had off the field, the DUI situations (involving several players over the years), the management, the ownership, it’s just been something almost every week. It’s kind of a cop-out word, but to say we lack focus sometimes, it could be a possibility.”

The Vikings have long been considered one of the most talented teams in the league.

“The talent’s there, no question,” Wilson said. “But I think the chemistry for winning goes beyond just pure physical talent. You have to have some intangibles, some leadership and a lot of desire.”

For the Raiders, this game might appear the equivalent of a fat fastball down the middle, except that, turmoil and all, the Vikings are nearly impossible to beat in the Metrodome. Since Nov. 24, 1988, the Vikings are 19-2 at home and 1-15 on the road. Some suggest the record reflects Burns’ aversion to the cold, that he takes his team inside to practice in a cozy bubble-top facility at the first sign of wind-chill.

Burns doesn’t know the reason. Art Shell offered an opinion.

“Look around,” he said. “Most teams play well at home.”

The Raiders are trying to take care of a nasty little streak of their own. Starting in 1986, they have lost the last two games of the season for four consecutive years. Not the kind of momentum the team is looking to extend.

Raider Notes

It’s a longshot, but the Vikings can clinch the last wild-card spot at 8-8 if they win their last two games, Dallas loses its last two, and Green Bay and Tampa Bay lose one game each. . . . Despite their problems, the Vikings enter today’s game with the NFL’s top-rated pass defense. . . . Herschel Walker does not have a 100-yard rushing game this season, but he has gained 654 yards in 160 carries, an average of 4.1 yards . . . . Four Vikings were named to the NFC Pro Bowl team this week: guard Randall McDaniel, tight end Steve Jordan, defensive end Chris Doleman and safety Joey Browner.