Every weekday, we walk you through what's going on with the Vikings.

WHAT YOU MIGHT HAVE MISSED

— The Vikings have prioritized improving their run defense, but it took them a few plays to put the clamps on Buccaneers back Doug Martin.

— What do the Vikings need to do to meet expectations this year? Chip Scoggins writes that winning more close games would be a good start.

— Rookie defensive end Danielle Hunter is making progress as a pass rusher, but "he's still got a ways to go as far as being consistent with that."

— Will the Vikings keep a fullback? Logic says Zach Line will be here.

— Tom Johnson has picked up where he left off during his breakout 2014 campaign, and he has his sights set on an even higher sack total.

AROUND THE NFC NORTH

— Former Gophers safety Brock Vereen was running with the first team for the Bears, but he has been leapfrogged on the depth chart by a rookie.

— The Packers haven't given up on former Wisconsin wide receiver Jared Abbrederis, and he hasn't given up on football despite a rash of injuries.

— Lions safety James Ihedigbo is 32 but believes he's still in his prime.

TODAY'S VIKINGS SCHEDULE

The Vikings are sticking with the same post-camp schedule at Winter Park — the morning walkthrough, press conferences then practice at 2:50 p.m.

SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT

My buddy Chip had a good stat in his column about the Vikings needing to win close games: Last season, 43 percent of all NFL games were decided by one score. And Chip pointed to the losses in Buffalo and Miami to show that the Vikings could have been 9-7 last year had they closed out those games. But allow me to annoyingly play Devil's Advocate like Charlie Conway. Had the overtime games against the Buccaneers and Jets gone the other way, the Vikings would have been 5-11 and the conversation about the team would be much different right now. But that simply reinforces Chip's point — that closing out games late is the difference between good teams and bad ones.