OAKLAND — The never-timid citizens of O.co Coliseum were quite delighted as their favorite team left the field Sunday afternoon.

Shouts were shouted. Screams were screamed. Applause was applauded. The Black Hole was extremely Black Holish.

The Raiders’ record may be 3-12. But they are undefeated at home since Nov. 9. The paying customers approve.

“My hat’s off to them for sticking with us the way they’ve stuck with us,” said Raiders interim coach Tony Sparano of the fans.

Why wouldn’t they keep sticking, at least lately? The 26-24 decision over the Buffalo Bills gave the Raiders their third victory in five weeks. Think about that. The Raiders now own as many home victories this season as the 49ers.

But you can never make everyone happy. It is amazing how many fans, who are otherwise sensible and intelligent humans, believe that the Raiders are messing up their chance to earn the top pick in the college draft by … you know … trying too hard to win.

Baloney to all that — or bologna to all that, if you prefer the more traditional insult spelling. Winning is always better than losing. You would understand why if you ever visited a winning NFL locker room as opposed to a losing NFL locker room.

Professionals become professionals because they want to win. Professionals sign contracts and are told they are being paid to win. You can’t disrupt that mindset and mission unless you want to risk pumping more bad air into the team’s attitude balloon.

Sunday, the Raiders’ postgame locker room was full of buoyant chatter, laughter and teasing insults. If they had lost, what would it have been like? Sullen. Oppressively hushed. So which atmosphere would be best entering the next workweek, preparing for the season’s final game?

“I’m proud of this franchise, proud of this team,” said linebacker Khalil Mack, the rookie who shows such fine promise. “It’s about the leadership.”

See? That is the sort of Raider talk you want now. You do not want social media blather about whether the Raiders have blown an opportunity to draft Alabama receiver Amari Cooper.

You worry about the draft strategy when you get closer to the draft, not in December. And in this December, you salute the Raiders for deciding to keep checking in rather than checking out and merely collecting their paychecks.

“I think what it says is, we’re trying to change the culture here,” said rookie quarterback Derek Carr, following another arrow-up performance. “And we are changing the culture here.”

Well, let’s not get too carried away, young man.

For the danger, as always, is to walk the fine line between praising the Raiders’ recent performances at home … and reading way too much into what all of that means in terms of the future. It guarantees nothing. The culture is not magically changed by three home victories. And owner Mark Davis needs to be careful in assessing the landscape about where the team goes from here.

It’s true that Sparano has done a better-than-average job after replacing former head coach Dennis Allen following Week 4. Some say this could make Sparano the leading candidate to be named permanent head coach for 2015 and beyond.

But … well, let’s examine recent Bay Area NFL history.

In 2008, Raiders head coach Lane Kiffin was fired four games into the season by then-owner Al Davis, who replaced Kiffin with Tom Cable on an interim basis. Cable won three of the last six games to create great optimism and was named permanent head coach. This led to … Cable going 13-19 over the next two seasons and being dismissed.

Also in 2008, across the bay, the 49ers fired Mike Nolan seven games into the season and replaced him with Mike Singletary, who won five of the last seven games to create great optimism and was named permanent head coach. This led to … Singletary going 13-18 over the next two seasons and being fired.

None of this history guarantees that Sparano would flop as the Raiders’ permanent new head coach. But it should make Mark Davis extra cautious about looking at every option. Sparano has already had one bite of the NFL head-coaching apple in Miami. He compiled a 29-32 record and was, ahem, not retained.

After Sunday’s game, Sparano was circumspect about his future employment in Oakland. He believes that he should be in the discussion about the permanent gig. But he wouldn’t flatly say that he deserves it.

“That’s not for me to decide,” Sparano said.

No, that is Davis’ choice. With his stadium situation temporarily resolved — the Raiders are reportedly prepared to sign a one-year lease extension at the Coliseum — Davis must next decide whether to retain general manager Reggie McKenzie and then work out the coaching situation.

Sunday afternoon, several Raiders players generally expressed their respect and admiration of Sparano without coming out and declaring that he should be the man. Carr was typical, dancing around the subject while repeating twice that Davis “will do the best thing for the organization.”

And if nothing else, the organization will advance into the next step in better spirits after these last three victories. Whoever coaches the Raiders next season, it’s clear that with good young players such as Carr and Mack and several others, there are bones on which to build a winning team.

But there’s a reason why the Raiders haven’t had one of those since 2002. The attitude balloon that we witnessed on this December Sunday needs to be pumped up just as consistently in September and October and November. Then we can talk about true culture change.

Read Mark Purdy’s blog at blogs.mercurynews.com/purdy. Contact him at mpurdy@mercurynews.com. Follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/MercPurdy.