DETROIT -- It happened again.

Six days after it seemed the Detroit Lions had solved some of their first-half woes, six days after they went to a place where they never win and remained thoroughly in control throughout the game, the same old issues popped up.

The biggest problem is this: Detroit’s inability to start games with precision and explosiveness.

The first-half malaise that seems to be following the Lions at home and on the road, during the day and at night, reappeared against the Cleveland Browns on Sunday. They faced a 10-point deficit against a winless team less than seven minutes into the game. Detroit’s first two offensive drives lost three yards.

It was as poor as Detroit could play. It would have been an afterthought in what became a 38-24 Lions win over the still-winless Browns -- except for one small thing. It has occurred over and over again. And eventually, against teams that are better than Cleveland, it’s going to cost the Lions if they can’t fix it.

That said, Detroit coach Jim Caldwell doesn’t seem too concerned about it.

“Not really worried about that,” Caldwell said. “I’m really worried about how we play at the end. It’s very difficult to play a team that everybody thinks doesn’t have players. That team has players. That team in four games, I think four games they lost, they lost by a narrow margin. A lot of people -- I’ve been on that side before. I know what it looks like and they played just exactly like I anticipated they’d play.

“They played very, very well. So, for our guys to come out and get a victory, I don’t care who we’re playing. In this league, a victory is hard to get. You can downplay it and all that kind of stuff, but I’m just telling you that there are no easy wins in this league. They’re all difficult, so I’m glad our guys measured up.”

While Caldwell is giving credit to Cleveland -- and the Browns played arguably their best game of their season -- there is a larger issue. Entering Sunday, the Lions had been outscored 40-27 in the first quarter and 65-61 in the second quarter. The only quarter in which the Lions had a positive point differential before Sunday’s game was the fourth, when they had outscored opponents, 74-34.

The Lions have trailed at the end of the first quarter in four of their nine games this season. They’ve led after the first quarter only twice, both road Monday night wins. They’ve also trailed at halftime five times this season, including in three of their four losses.

Sure, it’s better to be good late than early, but eventually showing up late will burn Detroit in a game that matters. Throughout Caldwell’s tenure with the Lions, they’ve been a second-half team -- both in individual games and in portions of the season. They’ve typically played better when more was at stake.

It’s why the Lions seem to continually walk the thinnest of lines between a win or not, a playoff berth or not. So the Lions are comfortable here, and maybe that’s a positive for Detroit.

There are good things for the Lions, though, despite the slow start against Cleveland. Most of Detroit’s issues seem fixable. The interception Matthew Stafford threw in the first quarter, which set up Cleveland’s first touchdown, was a rarity.

The Lions’ run defense, which had been a top-10 unit entering Sunday, was shredded for 201 yards Sunday as the Browns used more draws and delays coming out of the bye than the Lions had seen on film. It’s the third-most rushing yards the Lions have given up under Caldwell and defensive coordinator Teryl Austin -- and the worst effort against the run the team has had since 2015.

“You just look at this one,” safety Glover Quin said, “and say it was one of those outlier games, you know.”

And that’s what the Lions have to hope for. They’ve played decent through most of the season -- handling the teams they should have handled and been competitive in the toss-up games they’ve had. It’s why the way Detroit won Sunday should be a bit concerning.

The Lions have to hope that what they showed against the Browns, a lackluster effort for a half that still ended up in a double-digit win, was an anomaly because their schedule gets only more difficult, starting with a game at Chicago and then a massive game Thanksgiving against the division-leading Vikings.