ALLEN PARK — Calvin Johnson was back at practice today (Thursday). The Lions wide receiver didn’t run routes or participate in skeleton drills in the early portion that was open to the media.

He was wearing his helmet and did go through position drills — ladder and four-square — with fellow wide receivers. 

Johnson’s left knee, which he injured in the game against the Bears, kept him out of Sunday’s loss at Green Bay.

Coach Jim Schwartz told the Detroit media on Wednesday that Johnson is improving, but the decision whether he will play could be made as late as Sunday at Cleveland.

If Johnson misses the game against the Browns, it will be just the second time in his career that he’s missed two straight games. In 2009 he sat out on Oct. 18 and Nov. 1 — in-between those games was the bye week. He had a knee injury at that time too. 

The wide receiver known as Megatron, who is in his seventh NFL season, has missed just five games.

Nate Burleson, who broke his forearm on Sept. 24, was back for the second straight day running position drills using a tennis ball instead of a football.

Louis Delmas (knee) and Chris Houston (hamstring) returned to practice after sitting out on Wednesday.

Also out on Thursday were: Tony Scheffler (concussion), Theo Riddick (concussion) and Jason Fox (knee).

(Follow @PaulaPasche on Twitter. Order her book,  “100 Things Lions Fans Should Know & Do Before They Die’’ here. It’s also available at bookstores.)