John DeFilippo's game plan Monday night will be monitored only slightly less fervently than NORAD's Santa Tracker app on Christmas Eve.
Will the Vikings offensive coordinator call more running plays? Too many? Or just the right amount to make Mike Zimmer smile and give a thumbs-up?
While the run-pass ratio served as an easy-pickings debate last week, the outcome of a critically important game in Seattle hinges less on the number of times the Vikings run the ball and more on their ability to stop the run.
Well, that and being able to contain some guy named Russell Wilson.
"We have a full plate," defensive end Stephen Weatherly said.
Full like a trip through the buffet line. The roadmap to victory is clear: The Vikings need their best position group — the heralded and highly compensated defensive line — to be their best players in a game that could determine their playoff fate.
Everything starts there. Everson Griffen and Danielle Hunter and Sheldon Richardson and Linval Joseph. When they are swarming and relentless in their pass rush, offenses look claustrophobic, tentative, disrupted. That front four can dictate the flow of an entire game.
"Those games are usually fun," Richardson said.
And successful. And that's what the Vikings need more than anything: a smothering performance from their D-line, because the Seahawks can wear down opponents by slow drip or with Wilson's brilliance.