Head coach Kevin O’Connell of the Minnesota Vikings.

The Minnesota Vikings‘ playoff future is in their collective hands with two monster games remaining against elite NFC North Division rivals.

Minnesota hosts the Green Bay Packers at U.S. Bank Stadium on Sunday, December 29, in the team’s final home game of the season. Should the Vikings win that contest, they will move to 14-2 and head to Ford Field to take on the Detroit Lions in Week 18 for the right to call themselves champions of both the division and the conference.

Minnesota announced some news on Tuesday that bodes well for the franchise’s chances to accomplish both of those goals.

“The Vikings announced linebacker Ivan Pace, Jr., has been designated for return and is returning to practice,” Craig Peters, senior editor of Vikings.com, wrote. “This move opens a 21-day evaluation period for the second-year linebacker who suffered a hamstring injury at Chicago in Week 12.”

While Minnesota has three weeks to get Pace back into the lineup, the team’s hope is to have him ready to go against Green Bay four days from now, per Chris Gates of SB Nation’s Daily Norseman.