Sanders Leaves Vikings Grasping for Air : NFC: Lions all but clinch playoff spot while Minnesota loses game, 41-19, and quarterback Moon to injury.

The fans still sing a fight song here, in this place bereft of professional cheerleaders, and end zone dances, and quitters.

The star running back still has never spiked the ball. The coach is thick-jowled and jolly and smokes cigars.

More than an hour after important victories, players still can be found in their ragged game pants, their eyes surrounded by black shoe polish and filled with wonder.

“People had our whole team dead . . . . dead and buried,” Detroit Lion linebacker Chris Spielman said Saturday. “Call me biased, stupid, crazy. But I think we can play with anyone.”

On magical afternoons like the Lions experienced against the powerful Minnesota Vikings, they can do better than that. How does a 41-19 whipping of a team with the league’s fifth-ranked defense sound?

Barry Sanders, the star running back, made moves that dropped Vikings to their knees. Mel Gray returned kicks that left them holding their heads.

Then quarterback Dave Krieg, 36, put it all into context--as the Lions do so well--by conducting his postgame news conference while baby-sitting his two young sons.

“I think we surprised the whole NFL,” Lion linebacker Pat Swilling said. “When they see that score, they aren’t going to believe it.”

The outcome, before a raucous Silverdome crowd of 73,881, virtually ensured that the Lions will make the playoffs despite having a 5-6 record a month ago. They are tied with the Vikings for first place in the NFC Central with a 9-6 record.

It also ensured that the Vikings, who began the season 7-2, still have not clinched the championship going into next week’s season finale against the 49ers in Minneapolis.

And they may have to win that game without quarterback Warren Moon, who suffered a strained ligament in his left knee with 7:33 remaining in the third period after Swilling was blocked into his leg.

Cowboy quarterback Troy Aikman suffered a similar injury earlier this season and sat out two games. If the same thing happens here--the Vikings will know more today after an MRI examination--that could mean a regular-season-ending two losses.

Backup Brad Johnson, when he wasn’t throwing the ball 10 feet over receivers’ heads Saturday, was heaving it out of bounds. He completed less than half of his passes (14 for 29) for only 104 yards and no touchdowns.

About the only good news for the Vikings came early, when Cris Carter caught his 113th pass to break Sterling Sharpe’s one-year-old record.

Like the Lions, the Vikings can clinch a playoff spot today if two of the following four teams lose--Arizona, Chicago, Philadelphia or Green Bay.

But the Lions are not backing in. True to their 1950s personality, this team and its 1935 uniforms won not with gimmicks or tricks, but with steady punches to the midsection.

Most of them, as usual, delivered by Sanders.

“He does things that people will never, ever see,” Spielman said. “People on other teams are always coming up to me after games and saying, ‘Man, this guy is in his own league.’ ”

Sanders, the NFL rushing leader who was held to a season-low 16 yards in the first meeting between these teams, scored on runs of 18 and 64 yards while gaining 110 yards total. He needs 169 next week against Miami to reach 2,000 for the season.

“We knew what they were doing, we knew what was going to happen, we even knew a lot of their plays . . . . and yet we couldn’t stop them,” said Roy Barker, Viking defensive end. “It was just, basically, Barry.”

In typical Sanders fashion, his 18-yard run that gave the Lions a two-touchdown lead in the third period was more impressive than his 64-yard run nine minutes later.

In the first score, he avoiding one diving defender, juked another, and carried a third across the goal line. In his second score, he simply found a hole on the left side and sprinted from the crowd.

“I’m still in awe of him,” said guard Shawn Bouwens, who has blocked for Sanders for four years. “He literally drops defensive guys to their knees. Just takes away their breath.”

And he never, ever rubs it in. It has become the stuff of legends that Sanders’ next spike will be his first.

His cocky statements on Saturday?

“We’re getting contributions from everybody,” Sanders said. “We’ve kind of shaken the reputation of being one dimensional.”

He was speaking of Gray, whose dazzling 98-yard kickoff return for a touchdown in the first quarter was his ninth career scoring return, tying Ollie Matson for the NFL record.

He was speaking of Krieg, 5-1 since taking over for injured free-agent bust Scott Mitchell. Krieg missed on only five of 20 passes, threw twice for touchdowns and was not intercepted, giving him 13 touchdowns and one interception since becoming the starter.

Sanders was also speaking, believe it or not, of first-round draft pick Johnnie Morton from USC.

For only the second time this season, Morton actually had a catch. For the first time, it was for a touchdown.

Running a slant pattern from the 18-yard line, Morton made a leaping catch at the same time Vencie Glenn attempted a leaping tackle. Only by clutching the ball to his helmet did Morton hang on.

“If I don’t catch the ball, people won’t think I’m good,” Morton said.

He shouldn’t have to worry about that, if only because many in the NFL don’t think many of the Lions are any good.

“At least that’s what you think,” Barker mumbled Saturday. “One day they are down, (Wayne) Fontes is getting fired, this and that are going wrong. Then all of a sudden . . . . they are God’s gift.”

In this case, a charming antique.

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Good Hands People

Cris Carter of the Minnesota Vikings set the single-season record for receptions with one game remaining in the season. Here is the list of players who have caught 100 passes in a season:

Player Team Year No. Cris Carter* Minnesota 1994 119 Sterling Sharpe Green Bay 1993 112 Jerry Rice* San Francisco 1994 108 Sterling Sharpe Green Bay 1992 108 Art Monk Washington 1984 106 Terance Mathis* Atlanta 1994 103 Charley Hennigan Houston 1964 101 Lionel Taylor Denver 1961 100 Jerry Rice San Francisco 1990 100 Haywood Jeffires Houston 1991 100

* Season in progress