ALLEN PARK -- The Detroit Lions have been nearly doubled up in the first quarter this season, by a 73-30 score. And they've somehow been worse the last three weeks, getting lapped 33-3.

Their slow-starting ways finally caught up to them on Thanksgiving. Despite finishing the game on a 20-7 run, Detroit lost anyway because it had dug itself into a 13-0 hole against the division-leading Vikings. And coach Jim Caldwell is blaming himself and his staff for it.

"It's all coaching," Caldwell said. "It's all coaching. It's never anything else other than coaching. It's our job to get them going. It's not on the players' job. It's our job."

Whatever they're doing isn't working. They're averaging just 2.7 points in the first quarter, nearly three times as bad as the other three combined. And they've held a lead after the first quarter just twice -- against the Giants and Packers.

Which means they've somehow never held a lead after 15 minutes at home, a remarkable feat.

The offense has been to blame lately, going three-and-out to open two of the last three games, and coughing up a fumble in the other. Against Cleveland, they were still stuck on negative yardage by the time the Browns -- who were 0-8 -- had a 10-0 lead. Against Minnesota, they had more penalties (four) than first downs (two) in the first quarter.

But the defense has been every bit as bad. They allowed touchdowns on their first two drives last week, including a 14-play series to open the game. The week before that, the defense went field goal-touchdown-touchdown to open the game, not including a pick-six from Matthew Stafford. Against Cleveland, they had allowed a field goal and touchdown before finally getting a stop against the Browns' woeful offense.

In fact, since the bye, the only time the Lions defense began a game without allowing points was against the Packers. And that's only because the Packers missed a field goal.

The Lions defense has been on the field for an average of 11.8 plays to open their last four games.

"Two of them resulted in wins, so obviously sometimes that's going to happen to you," Caldwell said. "But it's something we've got to get straightened away. We got to start better, and that's something you work at. You got to tinker, you look at some different options, and you go ahead and get that done. But we're not where we need to be in that particular area."

But asked what the coaching staff is doing differently this week, Caldwell offerd no specifics.

"It's not like it's just happened this year," he said. "We've been up and down in those areas for quite some time. It's always something we're adjusting and trying to get a little bit better at all the time. We've certainly got to do so this week as well."