Daunte Culpepper will make his fifth straight start this weekend when the Lions host his former team, the Vikings, at Ford Field. Dan Orlovsky tried throwing at practice Wednesday, but was erratic and said he experienced “a lot of pain in my ligaments.”

“I'm close, but it's not there enough,” Orlovsky said in ruling himself out of Sunday's game. “I went to the hospital yesterday and had a CT scan and we're going to FedEx the CT scan out to the (specialist) in Louisville, see what he says, see where the growth is. I haven't had a CT scan since the first week, so see if it's healing, see if he says yeah, you can push it and play on it or he says no. I'm not going to be stupid.”

Orlovsky suffered ligament damage and two fractures in his throwing thumb a month ago in a 27-23 loss to Chicago. The Lions (0-12) have played their four most competitive games of the season in his four starts, including a 12-10 loss at Minnesota.

Culpepper signed with the Lions the Tuesday after Orlovsky's injury, but Lions coaches told players the week before that the free-agent signing was imminent and they were bringing Culpepper in to start. In his four starts, Culpepper has committed seven turnovers and been benched three times.

Backup quarterback Drew Stanton sat out practice Wednesday with lingering symptoms from the concussion he suffered Nov. 23 against Tampa Bay. He could miss his second straight game this weekend.