Gameday

The Lions have two weeks to stew over Sunday’s 20-13 loss to the Vikings, a loss that takes them to 1-3 at the quarter point of the season. They have next week off for the Bye, which means they have a lot of time to figure what needs to be corrected heading forward. The coaches can only do so much, though. At some point, the players have to be athletes and make plays.

"There are certainly things that we can’t continue to do but I don’t know that we can practice not fumbling the ball,” Lions head coach Jim Schwartz said. “I don’t know if we can practice catching the ball. We’re professional athletes and those are things that we have to be able to accomplish.”

There were too many times Sunday when the Lions were beaten physically by the Vikings. That’s going to happen sometimes, opponents get paid too, but the Lions aren’t making enough plays to win games. That's a problem

Where are all the playmakers?

“If this was December, I would be a little more frustrated, but I know what type of team we got, the coaching staff, they're going to keep doing their job and we're going to make plays for them,” said receiver Nate Burleson.

SILVA STARTS
It’s been an interesting 24 hours for Lions safety Ricardo Silva. He was signed from the practice squad to the active roster Saturday night when the Lions determined that Amari Spievey (groin) would not be available for the game.

Not only did Silva play, but also started in place of John Wendling. The Lions were looking for a spark from the safety position and Silva seemed to provide it.

“I thought Silva went in and played very well,” Schwartz said. “We're looking for somebody that could overlap. I thought he played a good, consistent game.”

Silva had five tackles and defended a pass in the game. The Lions were much better in the back end of their defense this week with the Vikings' longest completion being 27 yards.

The Lions are hoping to have Louis Delmas back in two weeks for their game in Philadelphia. Delmas has yet to play this season after undergoing knee surgery Aug. 7.

SCARY MOMENTS
There was a scary moment early in the fourth quarter Sunday when franchised-player Cliff Avril fell to the Ford Field turf on a non-contact play. It looked like Avril immediately reached for his knee as the Ford Field crowd collectively held its breath. It turned out Avril’s injury was to his back and not his knee. Either way, he did not return to the game.

“I’m fine right now walking around so that’s a good sign,” Avril said in the locker room after the game. “I think I’ll be alright.”

Avril had a half sack and three quarterback hits before the injury.

Receiver Calvin Johnson was also down on the turf for a short time Sunday when Vikings linebacker Chad Greenway lead with his helmet trying to break up a Johnson completion and contacted Johnson helmet to helmet. Greenway was penalized 15 yards for the hit.

Johnson walked off under his own power after a minute or so on the turf, and eventually went back into the game after being looked over on the sideline by doctors.

“He came up to me and kind of apologized for it," Johnson said. "We have a lot of respect for each other. He wasn’t trying to put me out of the game or anything like that."

Johnson had five catches for 54 yards in the game, both season lows.

INACTIVE
Inactives Sunday for the Lions were: safety Louis Delmas, defensive tackle Corey Williams, linebacker Travis Lewis, offensive tackles Jason Fox and Corey Hilliard, safety Amari Spievey and quarterback Kellen Moore.

Sammie Hill started for Williams and had one tackle. Second-year defensive tackle Nick Fairley also had one tackle.