The Cleveland Browns saved Baker Mayfield, and then saved a game that may change them: Doug Lesmerises

CLEVELAND, Ohio — Rock bottom looked like this, an interception on the first pass of the game for the second straight week, with Odell Beckham Jr. and J.C. Tretter lying on the ground injured in the aftermath, part of the wreckage.

Or maybe it was below rock bottom, because rock bottom felt like last week, when Baker Mayfield threw a pick-six on his first pass and it never got better.

Sunday, it got better. The Browns saved Mayfield by giving him time to save himself.

An 0-for-5 start that had everyone wondering how hurt he was, and how close Case Keenum might be to replacing him, gave way to an 22-for-22 response. And if you thought the Browns spent the last four years building a roster to be good, they were also building a roster to survive when they were this bad.

Sundays begin with fans hoping for the best of the Browns. But let’s raise a glass to competing, and winning, when for a stretch on this Sunday, the Browns were at their worst.

Winning on bad days in a necessary yet difficult to acquire skill, but the path to playoffs is paved with bad W’s. Something else was at stake here, though, and it meant more than a win. This is the luxury of a 4-2 start. I don’t think Sunday was a must-win game for the Browns.

But it was a must-compete day. Early, that idea looked lost, and the effects would have rippled through the franchise.

Wasn’t everyone asking exactly how hurt Mayfield was with his cracked rib? You didn’t want to discount the injury, but nor did you want to use it as an excuse. The last three halves had been so bad for Mayfield, an 0-for-5 start with throws missed all over the field wasn’t a shock.

“It’s a long game, we know that,” Browns coach Kevin Stefanski said. “We talked about having to play for three hours-plus today, we knew that’s what it was going to take. We weren’t going to get down if we didn’t have a couple plays go our way early.”

That woeful beginning demanded an answer, though. It got one. The Browns answered for Mayfield, and with their answer, the team gave a quarterback the time he needed to find himself. That time may have changed the arc of his season, which may change the arc of his career.

“We talk about a lot of resilience and how to act in those moments and how to carry yourself and how to think in those moments,” Stefanski said. “It’s nothing new for our guys. They understand it’s the National Football League and you’re going to have to battle through it.”

Denzel Ward at corner started saving touchdowns, and Myles Garrett at defensive end kept generating strip sacks. Kareem Hunt ran so hard, he moved every pile he was part of. And with Beckham lost for the game, Jarvis Landry nursed an injury, just like Mayfield, and both caught and threw passes through the pain, continuing to embody everything about this hopeful rebirth of the Browns.

The roster isn’t perfect, and the defense Sunday too often looked like Garrett, Ward and nine guys who couldn’t tackle a gourd. Meanwhile, Cincinnati quarterback Joe Burrow is no longer at the point where we’re saying he’s going to be a dangerous NFL quarterback.

He is. He’s there. He’s dangerous. So he marched his team down the field in the final minutes, the Browns unable to contain him. The Bengals scored and took the lead.

And then the Browns scored and won 37-34, which is why you still feel like you’re floating.

The offense took the field with 1:06 to play and no timeouts, missing its best running back, best receiver, best tight end and best offensive lineman. If Mayfield had thrown three straight incompletions and the Browns had fallen to 4-3 with a loss, it still would have been a certain kind of victory for the Browns.

Because it looked like they were dead. Then they came back together. The team gave Mayfield a chance, and he then gave his team a chance, which he hadn’t been doing.

“We talk about it,” veteran left guard Joel Bitonio said. “The offense picks up the defense and the defense picks up the offense.”

They competed, which meant more than anything, and they competed together, which meant even more. They also won, with a drive you won’t forget.

Win or lose, they’d shown us something real. But this way, they’re 5-2. Sunday might have changed the Browns. Sure, because they won. But more because they wouldn’t allow their quarterback, or themselves, to stay at rock bottom.

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