Vikings wide receiver Percy Harvin feels good as he recovers from offseason shoulder surgery. "I feel great. No limitations. Got all my strength back. It's just precaution," said Harvin, who had surgery in April. "They don't want me to fall or do anything crazy right now during these drills. Hopefully next week I should be back out here." Harvin caught 87 passes for 967 yards and six touchdowns last season. He also finished third on the team with 345 yards rushing and returned a kick for a touchdown.

Vikings cornerback Asher Allen informed the team last week he will retire, coach Leslie Frazier revealed Wednesday. Frazier says he was surprised. Allen, 24, was a third-round draft pick out of Georgia in 2009. He started 21 games in three seasons and would have competed for a nickel role in 2012.

With Mike Tice taking the reigns of the Bears offense, the team could soon resemble the Vikings from 2002-05. Tice was Minnesota's head coach over that period and while he wasn't involved in the play-calling, he was involved in the shaping of the system. "Mike was very involved in the offense in Minnesota," Lions offensive coordinator Scott Linehan, who was the Vikings coordinator under Tice. "He was an offensive head coach. I leaned on him heavily. He had lots of very good ideas." In the first three years under Tice, the Vikings ranked second (2002), first (2003) and fourth (2004) in total offense per game, a big-play offense led by quarterback Daunte Culpepper and wide receiver Randy Moss. The Bears have a similar big-play threat at those positions in Jay Cutler and Brandon Marshall.

It seems as though things are going fairly well in Adrian Peterson's recovery from left knee surgery. At Minnesota's Winter Park facility for the start of this year's offseason team activities in late April, Peterson noticed that his teammates weren't running that hard. So Peterson challenged those same teammates to a footrace and won easily. "He was off to the side working with our trainer, Eric Sugarman, and he looked out and saw the guys doing their wind sprints," head coach Leslie Frazier said. "He says, 'You know, I don't think they're running hard enough.' Eric allowed him to go out and run with them, and he passed them four different times. He finished in first four different times."

Vikings owners Zygi and Mark Wilf are moving ahead with stadium planning and other tasks, one day after the Minnesota State Legislature approved funding for a new $975 million facility. Bidding to host a Super Bowl is at the top of their list. The stadium is scheduled to open for the 2016 season, and Mark Wilf said Friday he hopes the Super Bowl could return to Minneapolis as early as 2017.

The Vikings moved to within a governor's signature of getting a new $975M stadium on Thursday after the state Senate approved a plan that relies heavily on public financing. Gov. Mark Dayton has said he'll sign the measure, meaning the Senate's 36-30 vote was effectively the final barrier for the stadium.

The Vikings' hopes of a new stadium are one affirmative vote away from becoming reality. Only a state Senate vote stands between the franchise and the $975M stadium the Vikings would move into ahead of the 2016 season. The House passed the stadium plan early Thursday by a 71-60 vote.

Minnesota lawmakers working out the final version of a bill for a new Vikings stadium Wednesday raised the amount the team would pay by $50M, a calculated move that could soon put the team in the new facility it has long coveted if it's willing to dig deeper, according to an ESPN.com report.

Adrian Peterson is progressing ahead of pace through his left knee rehabilitation. The Vikings won't promise he'll play in their first game. Athletic trainer Eric Sugarman said Wednesday that such a declaration "wouldn't be fair" to anyone. But Peterson left no doubt: He said he's "set" on being ready to take the field at full strength when the Vikings start the regular season.

The Minnesota Senate has approved a plan to build a $975M stadium for the Vikings, another big step toward the new facility it's chased for more than a decade. The Senate vote Tuesday came a day after the House approved its own stadium bill. A conference committee will work out differences, and the Vikings are already on record against the House version for a $105M hike in the amount they would pay.