The Star Tribune's Mark Craig had a good piece today about just how far ahead the Vikings' defense is from the offense — something that figured to be the opposite at the start of the season with a lot of question marks on defense and a lot of presumed playmakers on offense.

The Vikings have improved enough on defense this year to be considered at least middle-of-the-pack, if not better. It might not be a championship defense, but it is on the way to being a good-to-very-good defense. The offense has cost the Vikings multiple games, plain and simple.

As such, here is how we see the Vikings' biggest positions of need going into 2015:

*Offensive line: We wouldn't be upset at all if the Vikings spent two or more draft picks on the offensive line, including the first-round pick. If you had to point to one unit as the reason things have tended to fall apart for Minnesota this year, the line is it.

*Wide receiver: An infusion of talent here is needed. Even if Cordarrelle Patterson has a resurgence in 2015, the Vikings need to get better here in order to give Teddy Bridgewater a better chance to succeed.

*Defensive back: The biggest reason the Vikings took a defensive leap this year is the relative health and strong overall play of the secondary, led by Xavier Rhodes. But bringing in some more depth at both corner and safety would be wise.

*Linebacker: Anthony Barr was terrific before his knee injury, and the rest of the players at this position have held up at least adequately in most situations. Still, it's another area that could use more depth for the defense to take another step.

If the Vikings spent most of their draft picks and overall attention on those spots, they would be wise. If Adrian Peterson is gone, they will surely need to address running back depth as well, but the role of feature backs in the NFL has been diminished to the point that we wouldn't consider it a higher priority than any of the aforementioned positions.