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Week 11 a Temporary Defensive Regression When Minnesota Vikings long-timers like Linval Joseph, Xavier Rhodes, Everson Griffen, Trae Waynes, Mackensie Alexander, Stephen Weatherly, and Andrew Sendejo left the team several months ago, the defense was destined to look markedly different. Mike Zimmer’s calling card is that of defense and has been so for decades. It was improbable that the revised and retooled bunch of men on the defensive side of the ball would struggle. But with injuries to three staples – Danielle Hunter, Anthony Barr, and Michael Pierce – there simply was enough depth to replace all 10 of the aforementioned names. “Next man up” only works when the “next man” is actually pretty good. The next men up for the Vikings are either wet behind the ears or career backup-caliber players. Because of those factoids, the Vikings defense ranks 27th in points allowed per game and 22nd in yards allowed per game – wretched marks as adjudicated by Zimmer’s stern standards. The heft of the damage was perpetrated in Weeks 1-6 while glimmers of defensive competence were evident following the Week 7 bye week. The Vikings defeated three divisional opponents – all with some degree of impressive defense. Then, a step backward occurred in Week 11. The Andy Dalton-led Cowboys made forcible …