The San Francisco 49ers will be forced to punch their ticket to the Super Bowl without a key defender. Linebacker Oren Burks is “not expected to play” in Sunday's NFC Championship Game against the Detroit Lions due to a shoulder injury, according to ESPN's Adam Schefter.

Burks was listed as questionable vs. Detroit on San Francisco's final injury report. He suffered the injury during Thursday's practice and was a limited participant during the Niners' session on Friday.

“Burks had a collision yesterday [in practice],” coach Kyle Shanahan told reporters on Friday, per David Bonilla of 49ers WebZone. “So, he's got a shoulder [injury].”

A sixth-year veteran out of Vanderbilt, Burks has enjoyed the most productive season of his career in 2023. He played in 15 games for the Niners with five starts at strong-side linebacker, finishing the regular season with 46 tackles, three tackles for loss, one interception, one pass defensed and one fumble recovery—setting or matching previous career-highs.

Oren Burks is still listed as San Francisco's first-string SAM linebacker on the team's official depth chart. With him unavailable against the Lions, expect reserve linebackers Demetrius Flannigan-Fowles and Dee Winters to see more action than normal. The Niners could be inclined to roll out more sub packages defensively in hopes of slowing down quarterback Jared Goff, wide receiver Amon-Ra St. Brown and the Lions' passing attack, too.

San Francisco and Detroit are set to kickoff from Levi's Stadium in Santa Clara at 3:30 p.m. (PT). The top-seeded Niners enter the game as seven-point favorites.