BALTIMORE – The Broncos didn’t need a thesaurus to come up with different ways to describe Sunday’s beatdown by Baltimore at M&T Bank Stadium.

“We got our butts kicked,’’ said quarterback Bo Nix.

“At the end of the day, we got whooped,’’ said outside linebacker Nik Bonitto.

“(We got our) teeth beat in,’’ said cornerback Riley Moss.

The Broncos were walloped by the Ravens 41-10 in what many considered a measuring-stick game for the up-and-coming team. CBS brought its top announcing team of Jim Nantz and Tony Romo for what was expected to be a compelling game.

At least it was for much of the first half.

After on fourth-and-goal, wide receiver Courtland Sutton threw a trick 2-yard touchdown pass to Nix midway through the second quarter, the Broncos trailed just 10-7. And after Wil Lutz booted a 37-yard field goal with 54 seconds left in the first half, they were down 17-10.

Then the Broncos (5-4) fell apart against the Ravens (6-4), who came in with the NFL’s top-ranked offense.

Lamar Jackson threw a 53-yard touchdown pass to Zay Flowers with 16 seconds left to give the Ravens a 24-17 halftime lead. Safety Devon Key missed a tackle at the 28, saying Flowers “slipped through my hands.”

So soon did victory. The Ravens took the second-half kickoff and Derrick Henry banged in from 6 yards out to put Baltimore up 31-14. And that pretty much was it.

“Back-to-back touchdowns, yeah, it crippled us,’’ said Denver nose tackle D.J. Jones.

Many viewers around the country were likely scurrying by then to find something else to watch. While the Broncos didn’t score again, the Ravens added 10 more points during a second half that mostly was garbage time.

“The most important thing, and I just finished telling them this, even beyond playing football, there’s going to be games where you’ve got to go in on Monday and it’s not going to taste good for any of us, and we’re not going to like it,’’ said Broncos coach Sean Payton. “But that’s life. Then we’ve got to bow up and get ready to play (next Sunday at Kansas City).

“Let’s not make any excuses. We got whooped. … I think that it gets back to that grit, and sometimes, embracing the misery a little bit. … Including the head coach or any of us.”

Baltimore’s offensive clinic included Jackson completing 16 of 19 passes for 280 yards and three touchdowns and having a perfect passer rating of 158.3.

“I definitely studied those guys,’’ said Jackson, who surprisingly ran just three times for four yards. “(I was) studying film on those guys.”

Jackson’s favorite target was Flowers, who caught five passes for 127 yards and two touchdowns. And Henry ran roughshod over the Broncos, carrying 23 times for 106 yards and two touchdowns while also catching a 27-yard pass.

The Broncos entered the game No. 3 in the NFL in total and scoring defense, but so much for that. After giving up an average of 282.6 yards in their first eight games, they allowed 396 on Sunday.

“Just knowing what team we are and knowing the type of defense and knowing the kind of stage that we had to prove ourselves and not playing up TO the standard was kind of a disappointment,’’ said Bonitto, whose sack streak ended at six games although he did drop Jackson for an 8-yard loss that was called a running play. “But we’ll learn from this.”

Things didn’t start well for the Broncos when on the second play a Nix pass deflected off the hands of Lil’Jordan Humphrey and was intercepted by A’Darius Washington. Humphrey, who lost a fumble on the third of play of a 28-14 win at Carolina on Oct. 27, pointed the finger at himself once again for an early-game turnover.

Denver, though, were able to prevent the Ravens from scoring. But a pair of failed fourth-down conversions soon hampered the Broncos.

On their second series, running back Javonte Williams was stopped on fourth-and-1 at the Baltimore 44, which led to a 7-yard touchdown run by Henry.

On Denver’s third series, Nix overthrew an open Troy Franklin in the end zone on fourth-and-4 at the Baltimore 33. That led to a 33-yard field goal by Justin Tucker for a 10-0 lead in the second quarter.

“There’s some games where your palate has to change,’’ Payton said of being more aggressive due to trying to keep up with Baltimore’s high-powered offense.

“I didn’t feel like we capitalized on opportunities that we had,’’ Sutton said. “We had some big fourth-down opportunities that could have helped.”

At least the Broncos converted the fourth-down pass from Sutton to Nix, who caught the ball at the goal line while weathering a hard hit by safety Marcus Williams. Sutton, who caught seven passes for 122 yards, completed a pass for the second straight game. In his seven-year career, he is now 4 of 4 for 84 yards with three first downs and a touchdown and a perfect passer rating.

“We called it at the right time,’’ said Nix, who completed 19 of 33 passes for 223 yards with one interception. “Courtland looked pretty good again on that play.”

Nothing felt too good, though, for Nix after the game.

“This is miserable,’’ Nix said. “It’s no fun. You never want to lose games like this. … It is miserable, and we do have to face it. You either sit there and point fingers at someone, someone else, or you sit there and take ownership of it. The only way to get over it and not be in the situation anymore and to continue to find ways to improve is to look internally. That’s what we’re going to do, starting with ourselves and starting with me.”

The Broncos insisted they can’t let Sunday’s loss hang over them as they prepare to face the Chiefs, who enter Monday night’s game against Tampa Bay as the NFL’s only undefeated at 7-0. In the meantime, they didn’t shy away from what happened against the Ravens.

“They beat us pretty much in all three phases,’’ Payton said.