What does victory smell like?

It’s the distinctive and unmistakable scent of cigar smoke, which wafted heavily through the Ravens’ locker room at M&T Bank Stadium on Saturday night. Baltimore did it again, and this one tasted a little sweeter given the journey.

From 0-2 to a second straight AFC North title.

The Ravens (12-5) beat the Cleveland Browns, 35-10, in the regular-season finale on a chilly evening when the outcome was never in doubt. The victory also gives the Ravens the No. 3 seed in the conference, meaning they will play at least a wild-card playoff game at home next weekend against either the Los Angeles Chargers or Pittsburgh Steelers.

But the dissection of that rematch — the Ravens split their two games against the Steelers this season and already beat the Chargers once this season — could be put on hold for another day.

Saturday’s performance against the Browns (3-14) was a coronation more than a contest.

“It’s an awesome thing,” Ravens coach John Harbaugh said. “You just have to take it one week at a time, one day at a time, one play at a time. Our guys have done a really good job of holding onto that. That 1-0 T-shirt that we all wear around is real, so, four wins later we’re the AFC North champions.

“But we’re moving into what we’ve been working for because last year when we were in the locker room after the AFC championship game, we knew we had a long road to go to get back to this very point, to get back in the playoffs with an opportunity to take the next step and we’re not there yet.”

Those steps were worth savoring, at least momentarily.

Baltimore’s defense, which has been the best in the NFL the last two months of the regular season, easily stifled a short-handed and lousy Cleveland offense, while Ravens quarterback and NFL Most Valuable Player candidate Lamar Jackson completed 16 of 32 passes for two touchdowns and ran for another 63 yards on nine carries.

It was at times disjointed and sloppy and most certainly far from the virtuoso performances that Jackson, 27 and in his seventh season in the NFL, has put on both this year and throughout his illustrious and record-breaking career. But numbers don’t tell the full story of the man.

Jackson, who on Saturday became the first player in league history to throw for at least 4,000 yards and run for at least 800 more in the same season, has been both conductor and orchestra, making the magnificent appear mundane.

“It’s almost like, say less,” Harbaugh said. “What else needs to be said?

“Not just that, dude’s a competitor, man. He’s a fighter. He’s just one of a kind. … He wants everything to be perfect — everything. That’s why these numbers are the way they are, because of who he is.”

He’s the biggest reason the Ravens are division champions and winners of four straight to end the regular season, but he’s far from the only one.

Derrick Henry added 138 yards rushing, most of which came in the second half, along with two touchdowns, while tight end Mark Andrews and receiver Rashod Bateman had one touchdown apiece and rookie cornerback Nate Wiggins his first career interception, which he returned 26 yards for a touchdown in the opening quarter to set the tone for a long night for Cleveland.

All season long, Harbaugh preached that the team’s goals were to go 1-0 each week then to make the playoffs, win the division, advance through the postseason and win the Super Bowl.

On Saturday, the Ravens took their first step in earnest. It was also a culmination.

Just two games into the season, there was an incertitude and apprehension — at least outside the building — over a defense that suddenly and shockingly forgot how to cover and tackle, a shaky offensive line with three new starters and a seemingly endless parade of flags and self-inflicted mistakes that spoke to a lack of discipline.

It was one thing to lose to the two-time defending Super Bowl champion Kansas City Chiefs by a toenail at Arrowhead Stadium to open the season. It was another to suffer a bungling loss against a Gardner Minshew-led Las Vegas Raiders team that went on to have one of the worst records in the league.

There were also uneasy and difficult moments, too.

At least three players got in significant car crashes toward the end of training camp and the beginning of the season, including Andrews and Wiggins. Longtime offensive line coach Joe D’Alesandris’ unexpected death in late August was an emotional blow.

There were injuries — including on Saturday to receiver Zay Flowers, who left with a knee injury in the second quarter and did not return, and his status for next week’s playoff game is uncertain — and illnesses. Wins started to pile up, but questions and doubts persisted.

But Harbaugh, the second-longest tenured coach in the league and in his 17th season at the helm in Baltimore, has been around plenty long enough to know that seasons aren’t won or lost in September and that the season is a marathon, not a sprint.

The players knew it, too.

“We had to take it upon ourselves as players,” outside linebacker Kyle Van Noy said. “We felt like coaches were doing enough and as players we needed to step up individually and take ownership.

“It was our job to fix it.”

On offense, Jackson’s play continued to elevate by the week, thrusting him into the NFL Most Valuable Player conversation again. Henry became the hammer he had been his first eight years in the league with the Tennessee Titans. Flowers produced the first 1,000-yard season at the position for the franchise since 2021.

Along the way, Jackson became the league’s all-time leading rusher at quarterback, breaking Michael Vick’s record, and set a franchise record for touchdown passes in a season with 41.

Meanwhile, Andrews set a team record for career touchdowns and Henry broke the organization’s single-season mark for touchdowns with 16 this season. Andrews also tied wide receiver Torrey Smith for the most touchdown catches in a single season in Ravens history (11) and passed former tight end Todd Heap (5,492) to move into second place all-time in franchise history in receiving yards behind former wide receiver Derrick Mason (5,777).

Henry, meanwhile, became the first player in NFL history with three seasons of 15 rushing touchdowns and 1,500 rushing yards.

“It feels good,” Jackson said of winning what he dubbed a hat and T-shirt game. “It’s great to have this again.”

Defensively, coordinator Zach Orr simplified his scheme and substitution packages from early in the season and since Week 11 no defense was better than Baltimore’s.

The Ravens made lineup changes, most notably benching safety Marcus Williams and parting ways with turbulent free agent addition Eddie Jackson in favor of Ar’Darius Washington and deploying All-Pro Kyle Hamilton at safety. They also benched struggling second-year inside linebacker Trenton Simpson in favor of the more experienced rotation of Malik Harrison and Chris Board.

Van Noy and Odafe Oweh also helped spearhead a pass rush that racked up the second-most sacks in the league coming into Saturday and added to its total with one by each against the Browns.

That gave them 12 1/2 and 10 on the year, respectively, marking the first time that Ravens teammates reached double-digit sacks in a season since Terrell Suggs and Elvis Dumervil in 2014.

“It took a lot,” Van Noy acknowledged, shouting out D’Alessandris as well as former receiver Jacoby Jones, who also unexpectedly died this year. “I think about even before everything, we’ve gone through so much as a team.

“To be where we’re at, division champions in arguably the best division … to come out champs, it’s awesome.”

Before Flowers’ injury, Baltimore also remained remarkably healthy. Despite a gantlet of three games in 11 days last month, the Ravens went from two games back of the division lead at the start of that stretch to division champions for the eighth time in their 29-year history.

They will soak it in, but not for long.

The sting of last season’s loss in the AFC title game still resonated, right alongside that cigar smoke and throughout the locker room.

“We’re far ahead of where we was back [at the beginning of the year],” Jackson said. “Just today I was getting ticked off out there because I’m feeling like we’re driving and didn’t finish.

“We’re not trying to let that happen going into the playoffs. There’s still room for improvement, but we’re taking steps in the right direction. … I’m cool with what’s going on today. But my mind on something else.”

The message permeated.

“We’re grateful to celebrate that tonight, but we have bigger and better things to worry about, which is the wild-card weekend,” Van Noy said. “I was here last year for the AFC championship and this is all great, but our mindset’s changed to get this first game.

“We’re not guaranteed anything after next week, so our main focus is to get to next week and have that 1-0 mindset.”

The postseason awaits, and that’s all that matters now because that’s how Jackson will be judged and a championship is all there for him to play for.

The message is as distinct as the smell of all that smoke.

“Don’t let your foot up off the gas,” veteran left tackle and Jackson’s blindside protector Ronnie Stanley said. “It comes with an extra level of focus now.

“It’s a different level of competition during the playoffs.”

Have a news tip? Contact Brian Wacker at bwacker@baltsun.com, 410-332-6200 and x.com/brianwacker1.