Vikings owner Zygi Wilf clapped nervously on the sideline Sunday awaiting Ryan Longwell's 50-yard field-goal attempt with 5 seconds left in regulation and his team trailing by two. "[I] was just praying for that to go through," Wilf said.

And when it did, when the Vikings had a 20-19 victory over the New York Giants that gave them their first NFC North title and first playoff berth since the 2004 season, Wilf let loose. The billionaire, who had been waiting for this moment since buying the Vikings in 2005, became a kid again. Wilf half-skipped, half-danced to midfield, his shoes never appearing to touch the ground. Hugs were exchanged with anyone in the vicinity.

The fact the victory had come over the Giants, the team Wilf had lived and died with his entire life before getting his own franchise, made this moment all the sweeter.

"It's as good as it gets," said Wilf, who talked in the locker room after slipping on a T-shirt that declared the Vikings NFC North champs. "That's all I can say. To win our division after working so hard and going through all we did this year. To be here where we are at and to be here in the playoffs is something very special. It's what we've been working really hard for, and we're here right now. I'm just glad that we took care of business the way we did."

Wilf's reference was to the fact the Vikings would have wrapped up the division even if they had lost Sunday. Houston's 31-24 victory over visiting Chicago -- a score that coach Brad Childress made sure was not shown in the Metrodome -- would have enabled the Vikings to back into the postseason, and it appeared that might happen when the Giants took a 19-10 lead in the fourth quarter.

But the Vikings rallied when quarterback Tarvaris Jackson hit Bernard Berrian for a 54-yard touchdown with 9 minutes, 26 seconds left, and then Longwell made the winner after a curious sequence in which three timeouts were called just before the kick.

"I'm happy more than anything for the men on this football team," Childress said. "The resolve that they showed. [For] most teams, time has run out. I'm happy for these players. I'm happy for the coaches. I'm very happy for the owners. They had to earn it, as it should be, and that makes it that much sweeter. ... I'm proud to take these guys into the tournament that only teams 12 are in."

The Vikings play host to Philadelphia in the opening round of the playoffs. That's the same Eagles team for which Childress spent seven seasons (1999-2005) serving as an assistant to Andy Reid. The two remain good friends.

But Childress and his team were about as interested in focusing on an upcoming opponent Sunday as they were in the fact the Giants sat four injured starters and began pulling more regulars in the second half. The Giants, who clinched the No. 1 seed in the NFC and home-field advantage throughout the playoffs last weekend, used David Carr at quarterback for the final two quarters.

It didn't matter to the Vikings. Minimizing this victory wasn't going to be possible.

"For me this means everything," said Pro Bowl defensive end Jared Allen, who finished with a team-leading 14 1/2 sacks after being obtained in a trade-and-sign from Kansas City in April. "This is the first division championship I've won. This is why I came here. I knew this team had so much potential. Everything we talked about in the offseason with me coming over here is what we put into action. We've had our highs and we've had our lows, but there is so much character on this team that we pushed through."

Safety Darren Sharper was wearing multiple baseball hats that touted the Vikings' NFC North championship as he headed out of the locker room. Sharper went to the Super Bowl as a rookie with Green Bay in 1997, but the last time he appeared in the postseason was in 2004, as a member of a Packers team that lost to the Vikings in the first round.

"Man, you see I've got three hats on. That's how happy I am," Sharper said. "This season we've been through a lot of ups and downs, but the end result is that we're still playing and playing into January. That's a good feeling."

The fact the Vikings had to rally to win did not surprise Sharper. This was a team that started the season 1-3, heard chants of "Fire Childress" during a home victory over Detroit and needed Longwell to make three game-winners near the end of regulation.

"We're the most dramatical team, I think, in the whole NFL," Sharper said, making up a word that somehow proved very fitting, "as far as you don't know what's going to happen until the clock says 0:00. But it's good to get a victory and go into the playoffs with a win."

Added cornerback Antoine Winfield: "It's such a great feeling. We worked so hard to become a team on both sides of the ball. We're playing together. We just need to ride the momentum. We know we're going to have a tough opponent come in here next week and we'll just try and continue what we're doing."

That doesn't mean the Vikings will win their first home playoff game since the 2000 season. But it does mean there shouldn't be a dull moment.

Judd Zulgad • jzulgad@startribune.com