A good loss?

The final on the scoreboard read Baltimore 47, Cleveland 42 Monday night in what unquestionably was the game of the year in the National Football League, totally entertaining a national television audience.

In the standings, it counted as a loss, dropping the Browns to 9-4, ending a four-game winning streak and breathing life back into the playoff hopes of the 8-5 Ravens. But this was no ordinary loss. Not by a long shot. 

History will show Justin Tucker's 55-yard field goal with two seconds left in regulation as the game winner in a game where the score swayed back and forth the entire fourth quarter. But it was a lot more than that.

In a peculiar sort of of way, this one felt as much like a victory as it did a loss. It felt like a victory in that the Browns proved quite capable of going toe-to-toe with the Ravens, who had crushed them, 38-6, in the season opener, and mainly hold their own. 

It proved once and for all they are no longer the punching bag of the NFL. It proved once and for all that the days of miserable football on the lakefront are nothing more now than a bad memory. A rapidly fading one, too. 

Right now, this a good enough football team on offense where games like this, which took place often over the last two decades, can now be won. To play this competitively against a legit annual contender like the Ravens is a huge step in the right direction. 

Yes, the loss hurt, especially the way it turned out. The fact the Browns did not pack it in when the Ravens took a 34-20 lead after Tyus Bowers' interception of Baker Mayfield led to a one-yard touchdown run by J. K. Dobbins late in the third quarter, spoke volumes of what this team is about.

And it was Mayfield, making up for his first pick in his last 187 pass attempts, who was the linchpin for a 22-point fourth quarter that gained the lead at 35-34 with 6:33 left in regulation and was later responsible for a game-tying drive that consumed just 47 seconds and tied the game at 42 with 64 seconds left.

That proved way too much time for Baltimore quarterback Lamar Jackson to work. The dynamic Jackson, who dazzled with his feet early and his arm late, needed just 40 of those seconds to negotiate his offense into Tucker territory, which is most anything inside 60 yards.

Were it not for another disappointing performance by the defense, this one very easily could have wound up in the win column. The Ravens compiled a whopping 231 yards on the ground, averaging 7.2 yards a pop, mainly because Jackson is the Ravens' offense.

Jackson who runs more like a running back, dodged and weaved and scrambled all evening, making play after play until he went down in the fourth quarter with cramps. He scored twice with his legs and connected on a 44-yard scoring pass with Marquise Brown later while scrambling.

After spending two Baltimore possessions in the dressing room, Jackson returned in dramatic fashion when Trace McSorley, who filled in and was ineffective, was injured on a third-down scramble at the two-minute warning.

Jackson coolly and calmly broke loose from the pocket on fourth down, drew the attention of several Cleveland defenders, then lofted a soft pass over the onrushing secondary to Brown, who had sneaked away from Terrance Mitchell and completed the 44-yard scoring play to give the Ravens ea 42-35 lead.

He struggled somewhat in the first half, the Cleveland pass rush sacking him four times and limiting him  to just three completions in six attempts. But when the Browns allowed him to escape the pocket, he picked up 50 of his 124 rushing yards on just nine carries.. He was too quick for the slow-reacting Cleveland defense. 

One would not be incorrect to suggest too much Jackson was the main reason this one wound up in the wrong column. This is the fourth time in his career -- in four games -- he has baffled the flailing-at-air  Cleveland defense once he breaks contain and moves into the open. 

With the exception of the pick, Mayfield had another exceptional evening. He was confident with his throws from the pocket, stepping into them rather than throwing off his back foot.

His passing -- he was 28 of 47 for 343 yards --  helped set up a pair of rushing touchdowns by Nick Chubb and one by Kareem Hunt, who also caught one of Mayfield's  two scoring throws. Rashard Higgins, who had three fumbles that fortunately did no damage, grabbed the other.

What was surprising throughout the evening was how relatively easily the Browns solved the Baltimore defense, rolling up 493 yards of offense and keeping their quarterback squeaky clean. It was an evening that, under normal circumstances, when the Browns would have won.

Unfortunately, they were stung by a timing problem. And Jackson. That can't be emphasized enough. Allowing him too much time to put his team in a position to win in those final moments  was the determining factor. It showed, however, that the Browns are getting closer, at least on offense, to elite status in the NFL.

They stepped onto the brightly-lit national stage Monday night and did not embarrass themselves. They were not self destructive, If anything, they displayed the kind of confidence normally associated with perennial winning teams.

A loss? Sure. That is indisputable. A victory? Of sorts, yes. If there is something called a good loss, this one qualifies. I can walk away after this one and feel good about the future of this football team because I can now see how bright it is.

Knocking off a very good Tennessee team on the road last week and scaring the crap out of the Ravens Monday night are strong indications that is clearly the case.