Every week during the regular season Tim Twentyman will answer 10 good questions from his X account @ttwentyman in a feature we call "10 Questions with Twentyman."
20man: Veteran linebacker Alex Anzalone would be a big one. Detroit had a walkthrough Wednesday, so Thursday and Friday practices are big for Anzalone to see where he's at in his rehab and if a couple days of practice is enough for him to be ready to play Sunday night after six weeks off.
He would be a big boost to the linebacker room, no doubt. San Francisco really targeted the linebackers in the pass game last week as Brock Purdy was 11-for-11 for 182 yards with a touchdown in coverage matchups against Detroit's linebackers last week, per Pro Football Focus statistics. Anzalone is Detroit's best cover linebacker.
20man: It's a tough task. Lions head coach Dan Campbell said on his 97.1 interview with the Costa and Jansen with Heather show this week that Detroit's defense is going to rely heavily on their secondary Sunday night to step up and play well.
I think defensive coordinator Aaron Glenn has to go into Sunday's matchup with a good plan to try and limit Justin Jefferson first and foremost, and that starts with always having a safety or second defender cheating his way. They can't let Jefferson beat them with a big day. Make Jordan Addison, Jalen Nailor or tight end T.J. Hockenson have to step up to make plays.
Detroit's going to mix up their coverages between man and zone because they have to against a really well-coached Kevin O'Connell offense with a lot of weapons.
The one injury loss I think we don't talk about enough is cornerback Carlton Davis III. The Lions miss him.
20man: The Vikings are ninth in scoring, averaging 26.4 points per game. They've scored 30-plus five times and reached 40-plus once in a 42-21 win over Atlanta Week 14. Couple that with their defense ranking fourth in points allowed at just 18.8 and it's a formidable task the Lions have in front of them Sunday night.
The Lions scored 31 in the first win over Minnesota Week 7 and the defense allowed 23 points (one touchdown was a fumble return).
The Lions are averaging 33.3 points per game, No. 1 in the NFL, and have scored 30-plus points nine times. The number that really jumps out to me — Detroit could really use this kind of effort Sunday — is they've scored 40-plus points with no turnovers in five games this season, most in the NFL.
20man: If they don't do a better job of pressuring Sam Darnold than they did Brock Purdy last week, it will be tough. They did a better job of it in the second half with both their sacks and most of their six quarterback hits coming in the second 30 minutes, including both Kerby Joseph interceptions, and that's a big part of the reason we saw better results.
The Vikings have too many skill weapons to let Darnold sit back there and scan the field. Detroit has to be better generating pressure and putting Minnesota in some long down and distance situations, or this will become a track meet and then it's anyone's game.
20man: That's always the goal, right? The Vikings jumped out to a 10-0 lead, but Detroit did a nice job scoring 21 unanswered with two Jahmyr Gibbs touchdown runs and an Amon-Ra St. Brown touchdown catch to take a 21-10 lead in that game Week 7. This is a Lions team that is so explosive offensively that I don't worry much about them falling behind. It typically doesn't change their plan because they have so much confidence in their ability to put points up.
But conversely, when teams fall behind to Detroit, knowing how explosive they are on offense, we've seen it change an opponent's plan. We've seen teams abandon the run game too early and get one-dimensional and that really favors Detroit, especially at home with the crowd. If the Lions can jump up early and put Minnesota on their heels a little bit, it will be huge Sunday night.
20man: I'd actually be a little surprised at this point if we see him the rest of the way. He's only played in eight games this year and none since Jacksonville because of a nagging hamstring injury. Even then, most of his work this year was on special teams.
I just don't know if we've seen enough of him that Glenn would really trust him in a big playoff game unless they had to due to injury. It's a big offseason for him to come back, earn his keep and be more of an impact player in Year 2.
20man: Brian Branch gave up five receptions for 41 yards with only one of those being over 10 yards (15 yarder to Ricky Pearsall) vs. San Francisco. I'll take that. The week before was seven catches for 69 yards against the Bears. No touchdowns allowed in either game.
The penalties are what stands out to me with him. He's got to be more disciplined and technically sound now being exclusively a cover man in the slot.
I talked about the linebackers above and getting Anzalone back would help in that regard. But overall they have to be better keeping an eye on their responsibility in man, being at the proper depth in zone, limiting the mistakes in zone, passing receivers off and knowing their responsibility.
20man: The Lions have blitzed 213 times this season, which is third most behind only Minnesota (257) and Tampa Bay (224). Glenn blitzed Purdy 18 times on passing downs last week and all three of his touchdowns passes came on those plays, so be careful what you wish for sometimes.
Glenn said Thursday he's going to do everything he can to pressure Darnold and how important that will be for the defense. Looking back at the first matchup, Darnold was 8-for-10 for 142 yards with a touchdown in the 10 times the Lions blitzed him in passing situations.
20man: At this point, I think Anzalone is the only one we can expect back. Maybe Davis later in the playoffs.
As for Calais Campbell, the Dolphins are still alive in the playoff race and he's still there. Even if he would have been released, the Lions are 31st on the waiver claim list. The Lions will head into the playoffs with who they have.
20man: You hit on the big one there at the end. Aidan Hutchinson has got to be able to move and protect himself if the play on the field spills into the sideline. There are no rules preventing injured players or players on IR from being on the sideline, so we could still see him there if it makes sense.
