SPOTLIGHT / A GLANCE AT THIS WEEK IN THE NFL : IS THE PACK BACK?

For the Green Bay Packers, Sunday began with a sense of inevitability. With the Packers (6-6) trailing the Minnesota Vikings (9-3) by three games with four to play, a Minnesota victory or a Green Bay defeat would give the NFC Central title to the Vikings.

In three hours, the situation changed dramatically, as the Vikings lost to the Philadelphia Eagles, 28-17, while the Packers thumped the Detroit Lions, 38-10.

Although the lead is still two games with three to play, the Vikings might be in trouble.

Minnesota plays host to San Francisco next week, then travels to Pittsburgh. The Vikings could easily be 9-6 entering their final game on Dec. 27 against . . . Green Bay.

The Packers’ schedule looks a little more encouraging, with games against Houston and the Rams before the hoped-for showdown against the Vikings.

At worst, the Packers could be battling with Washington and Philadelphia (both 8-5) for the final two wild-card spots.

Minnesota’s Dennis Green was drawing coach-of-the-year raves in the early season, but Green Bay’s Mike Holmgren deserves a lot of credit for the Packers’ success. His best coaching move came in the off-season, when he went out and got quarterback Brett Favre, who threw five passes in 1991 as a rookie with Atlanta.

“I think Brett Favre can be great,” Holmgren said before the season. “He’s young and he has everything that I look for to play the position.”

Favre is turning Holmgren into a prophet.

Favre completed 15 of 19 passes for 214 yards and three touchdowns against the Lions. He has completed 65% of his passes and hasn’t thrown an interception in 87 attempts.

“We’re on a roll,” said Favre, a 6-2, 220-pounder from Southern Mississippi. “We’ve won four in a row for the first time since I was a freshman or sophomore in high school. It shows we’re coming around.”

READ CAREFULLY

Responding to an item in last week’s NFL Spotlight, Bruce Bockhorn of Arcadia writes: “Please be advised that Barry Foster is not from Arkansas (although he went to college there). He hails from Duncanville, Texas. There’s a big difference.”

Sorry, Mr. Bockhorn, but it never said Foster was born, raised and spent his entire life in Bill Clinton country. He went to college there, which makes him from Arkansas.

By the way, that old Razorback rushed for 125 yards in 33 carries against Seattle Sunday, giving him 10 games of more than 100 yards this season and breaking Franco Harris’ team record for carries in a season. Foster has 328 carries, 12 more than Harris had in 1978.

IT’S FAN-TASTIC . . . NOT!

In the Valley of the Sun and the Bay State, it was a bad day to be a concessionaire.

Sunday’s game between the Cardinals and San Diego Chargers drew a whopping 26,880 (with 2,882 discerning no-shows), but that was a mob scene compared to the 19,429 who showed up in subzero windchill weather for the New England-

Indianapolis game at Foxboro, Mass.

Both crowds were below the season low of 27,642 who attended the Patriots’ 24-3 victory over the Jets in Foxboro two weeks earlier. There were 10,837 no-shows Sunday.

At least fans in Tempe had an exciting game to watch as the Chargers rallied for a 27-21 victory. All the New Englanders saw was a pair of Dean Biasucci field goals in a 6-0 Colt triumph.

“On offense, I felt we had to play it close to the vest and play not to lose because of the conditions,” Ted Marchibroda, coach of the dazzling Colts, explained.

NAMES AND NUMBERS

Home, sweet home: Pittsburgh is 6-0 at home this season and has won its last nine in Three Rivers Stadium, the Steelers’ longest streak since they won 14 in a row from 1978-80. The Steelers play their final road game at Chicago next Sunday before finishing at home against Minnesota and Cleveland. The Steelers haven’t gone unbeaten at home since 1979, when they were 8-0 during the season and 2-0 in the playoffs. . . . The Philadelphia Eagles are trying to complete an undefeated home season for the first time since 1949, when they went on to win the NFL championship over the Chicago Cardinals. They’re 6-0 with two to play.

Steeler Coach Bill Cowher is the 24th head coach in NFL history and the 11th since the 1970 NFL-AFL merger to win 10 games in his rookie season. . . . NFL teams are now 9-4 this season after winning on the previous Monday night. Seattle beat Denver, 16-13, in overtime last Monday.

San Francisco wide receiver John Taylor and right tackle Harris Barton, left the 49ers’ victory over Miami with injuries. Taylor (left leg bruise) was listed as doubtful for next Sunday’s game at Minnesota. Barton (left knee sprain) will be out at least one week. . . . Dan Marino started his 137th consecutive game, the longest active streak among quarterbacks.

The Patriots are still winless (0-7) with Hugh Millen as the starting quarterback. . . . New England’s Jon Vaughn, who rushed for 180 yards in the previous two games with Leonard Russell sidelined, gained only three yards in six carries as Russell returned (11 carries for 39 yards).

Bernie Kosar’s 82.6% completion rate against Cincinnati (19 of 23) was a team record, beating the 23-for-28 performance (82.1%) by Brian Sipe against San Diego in 1976. . . . The Bengals lost three of their four starting linebackers to injuries or illness. James Francis reinjured his sore left knee, Gary Reasons aggravated a rib injury and Ricardo McDonald was unable to play because he had intestinal cramps. . . . Cleveland has forced at least one turnover in 27 of its last 28 games. The Browns lead the NFL with 19 recoveries of opponents’ fumbles.

The Jets’ 24-17 victory over Buffalo was their first since the 1987 season opener, a span of 11 games. It was also New York’s first road victory of the season. . . . The Bills’ last season with four or more losses was 1989.

THE LAST WORD

Miami cornerback J.B. Brown, who was beaten by Jerry Rice for Rice’s record 101st touchdown reception: “He’s had a lot of victims.”

Pittsburgh quarterback Bubby Brister, who threw two interceptions against Seattle after starter Neil O’Donnell had thrown three: “If we had messed up one more time, they would have called the rescue squad for us.”

Steeler cornerback Rod Woodson: “Winners find a way to win. Losers find a way to lose.”

Seattle Coach Tom Flores after kicker John Kasay missed three field goals: “One was to the right, one was to the left, one was short. The next one should have gone in, probably.”

Detroit’s Barry Sanders, who became the fourth back in NFL history to rush for 1,000 yards in each of his first four seasons, joining Eric Dickerson, Tony Dorsett and Earl Campbell: “It doesn’t mean a whole lot right now. It feels like another loss. Obviously I’m in pretty elite company. I just wish it could have come at a better time.”

New England quarterback Hugh Millen, after a 6-0 loss to Indianapolis: “We didn’t make any plays . I’ll put myself at the top of the list. They did a good job of covering people. That’s the anatomy of a shutout.”

Buffalo center Kent Hull, after the Bills lost their second game in a row: “We’re bleeding, but we’re not dead. We still control our own destiny, but we’ve got to play some better football.”

TONIGHT’S GAME

CHICAGO BEARS (4-8) at HOUSTON OILERS (7-5)

Time: 6 p.m. TV: Channel 7, 3, 10, 42

Chicago Coach Mike Ditka is back on center stage tonight with a team that has lost five games in a row and is in the middle of a quarterback controversy.

Jim Harbaugh has been replaced by Peter Tom Willis, who made his first NFL start last week in a 27-14 loss to Cleveland. Willis completed 19 of 26 passes for 285 yards and two touchdowns.

“We’ll play them both over the course of the game, but we’re going to start PT,” Ditka said. “He didn’t do anything to not deserve the start. We broke down in protections and missed some blitzes, but he played pretty damn good overall.”

The Oilers, meanwhile, are looking to make the playoffs as a wild-card team. They have the league’s top passing offense, even with Cody Carlson subbing for the injured Warren Moon, but the team has fallen short of expectations.

“I just hope we don’t get booed in the pregame introductions,” Carlson said.

The Bears gave up only 178 yards of offense to the Browns last week, but Cleveland capitalized on four turnovers for 17 points, returning two interceptions for touchdowns.

“We haven’t played well and in the process of not playing well we haven’t been lucky either,” Ditka said. “That creates some problems. We’ve been an unlucky team but we really haven’t played well enough to deserve any accolades.

“We’re just victims right now of Murphy’s Law. When you get into that, you have some problems.”

Houston Coach Jack Pardee can relate to the Bears’ problems.

“They’ve missed some kicks that have cost them games and had some turnovers,” Pardee said. “We’ve got to keep making them have turnovers to win the game. I’m sure they’re saying the same thing about us.”