BALTIMORE — Football is a burning thing.

For two months, quarterback Bo Nix and the Broncos relentlessly worked to spark the happy imagination of what could be for a much-doubted team. But a single 41-10 defeat can send an NFL season down, down, down in a ring of fire.

“Unfortunately, I would say you need to have that learning curve. You need to have ‘that stove is hot, don’t touch it’ moment,'” receiver Courtland Sutton said Sunday, after getting blistered by Baltimore in a lopsided defeat that reminded everybody how small the margin of error is for this Denver team.

OK, we all knew the truth would do the Broncos no favors in this match-up.

Nix is not Lamar Jackson, twice named the NFL’s Most Valuable Player.

There’s not a playmaker on the Denver roster rumbling toward Canton with the get-outta-my-way certainty of Ravens running back Derrick Henry.

And this Broncos defense might be stout, but it ain’t the Orange Crush we fondly remember from the 1970s.

The truth not only hurts, it burns. But could’ve anyone really anticipated the intensity of this humiliation, when the Ravens toyed with Denver by scoring on seven consecutive possessions?

The Broncos not only got dominated, they got exposed as more feisty than talented.

Frauds fold. What will Denver do next?

“It gets back to that grit and sometimes embracing the misery a little bit,” coach Sean Payton said. “You just can’t B.S. yourself.”

Payton tried to warn everybody, including the players in his locker room, that what Denver had done to secure five victories in September and October wouldn’t be sufficient against the Ravens.

Facing a legit championship contender, in a hostile road environment, during a game stoked with playoff-like intensity, Sutton admitted: “We have to figure out our identity.”

It was obvious from the interception thrown by Nix that bounced off the hands of Lil’Jordan Humphrey and into the arms of Baltimore defensive back Ar’Darius Washingnton on the second snap of this game.

The Broncos were chasing belief they belonged on the field with Baltimore at M&T Bank Stadium, while the Ravens walked in like they owned the joint.

On a sad afternoon alongside an old bay in Maryland that could make even the most die-hard Broncomaniac crabby, Payton showed his hand quickly, revealing he knew the Ravens were so superior that Denver had to gamble.

From the Broncos’ second offensive possession, when Javonte Williams got stopped inches short of moving the chains on fourth down at Baltimore’s 44-yard line, to the opening play of the second quarter, when Payton decided against attempting a field goal from 50 yards to watch Nix miss badly on a throw to Troy Franklin, running wide open for a would’ve, could’ve, should’ve touchdown, it was clear the young, scrappy and hungry visitors had to take their shots without fear of failure.

The Broncos’ nothing-to-lose gumption is to be applauded.

Their execution under pressure? Not so much.

“We have to learn when the opportunity is there, we have to capitalize,” said Sutton, who got Denver on the scoreboard in the opening half, not by catching the football, but by throwing a 2-yard touchdown to Nix on fourth-and-goal.

With 70 seconds remaining before halftime, Nix scrambled into the end zone for a touchdown that could’ve reduced the Broncos’ deficit to three points at intermission, only to see the score wiped off the board by a holding penalty on offensive tackle Garett Bolles.

When Denver was instead forced to settle for a short field goal and Jackson did MVP things by needing only two snaps and 38 seconds to respond with a 53-yard TD pass to Zay Flowers for a 24-10 lead, Baltimore flipped the scoreboard on the Broncos with such force it broke their spirit.

“A lot of what-ifs in this game,” Nix said, “but the fact of the matter is we got our butts kicked.’

After a 5-3 start to this season gave Broncos Country plenty of reasons to fall in love with football again, Denver got burnt in the first week of a November stretch that could send all those good vibes up in smoke.

The Ravens left no doubt that what’s between the Broncos and legit Super Bowl contention isn’t a gap but a canyon. And it won’t get any easier from here, with Patrick Mahomes and the defending champion Chiefs waiting next week in Kansas City.

It doesn’t require an overactive imagination to wonder if Denver returns home on Nov. 17 to face the feisty Atlanta Falcons, flying high in first place of the NFC South, will determine what’s left of the playoff momentum Payton has diligently built will be in danger of collapsing so hard that there’s nothing left except the rubble of regret.

“Football is a humbling game. And that’s that’s the beauty of it: the highest of the highs and the lowest of the lows,” Denver cornerback Riley Moss said. “Everyone in this locker room loves this game. And we can’t forget that, especially when you get your teeth beat in like this.”

Being humbled hurts. A 41-10 loss will leave a mark.

While lacking the talent to be more than a dark horse in the playoff race, Denver is young, scrappy and hungry.

Now we’ll find out if this team will burn with a desire for redemption, or if the Broncos have been broken.