A dominant running game with Nick Chubb in full Batman mode.

A defense that rose to the challenge in the second half.

Tight ends who were open.

An offensive line that was solid despite missing three starters.

A Browns team that lost its league-high sixth game by six points or less.

Imagine how that looked to Hall of Fame-bound quarterback Aaron Rodgers.

When searching for positives out of the near-Christmas miracle, the Browns’ 24-22 loss to the Green Bay Packers Saturday at Lambeau Field, consider this. It was the perfect audition tape to lure Rodgers to Cleveland.

It’s hard to believe that Rodgers, a leading candidate to win his fourth league MVP award, would leave the Packers, especially if he wins his second Super Bowl in February. But it’s not out of the question that Rodgers, 38, would seek another challenge. Perhaps Rodgers envisions the same type of success that Tom Brady is enjoying in his post-Patriots life with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Joe Montana finished his career in Kansas City, Peyton Manning in Denver, so others’ path to Canton has included a layover.

If Rodgers decides he wants one as well, Cleveland has much to offer.

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Browns quarterback Baker Mayfield revived such talk by throwing a career-high four interceptions against the Packers. It seems even more likely — if it already wasn’t — that General Manager Andrew Berry will bring in someone to challenge Mayfield next season. Considering the state of the roster, Berry can do much better than Mitchell Trubisky, currently the backup in Buffalo, with no slight intended towards the former Mentor High School star.

Yet the Browns were still in position to pull off the victory in Green Bay, reaching the 50-yard line with 61 seconds left and three timeouts. Granted, a field goal was no lock with rookie kicker Chris Naggar making his NFL debut and having already missed an extra point.

But Mayfield didn’t give Naggar that chance, failing for the fifth time this season to produce a game-winning drive.

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That gave Berry, Browns Chief Strategy Officer Paul DePodesta, and owners Jimmy and Dee Haslam even more minuses on their ledgers when deciding whether to offer Mayfield an extension with his contract expiring after the 2022 season.

The minuses are piling up, despite the torn labrum in Mayfield’s left shoulder.

But if Rodgers seriously considers moving on, the Browns situation would have plenty of plusses.

Chubb is under contract through 2024, the other half of the 1-2 punch Kareem Hunt through 2022. D’Ernest Johnson, a restricted free agent after this season, is waiting in the wings.

Left guard Joel Bitonio and right guard Wyatt Teller signed contract extensions this season, left tackle Jedrick Wills Jr. is in his second year.

Tight end Austin Hooper is signed through 2023, Harrison Bryant was drafted in 2020, and impending free agent David Njoku has said he wants to stay.

The receiving corps needs upgrades, but Jarvis Landry has a year left on his contract and there is youth to build with in Donovan Peoples-Jones and Anthony Schwartz.

The defense revamped last offseason has come into its own since mid-October, is led by three-time Pro Bowl defensive end Myles Garrett and boasts exciting young players in linebacker Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah and cornerbacks Denzel Ward and Greg Newsome II.

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Even more enticing is one of the biggest negatives on Mayfield’s resume — six losses by six points or less this season.

If Rodgers was watching closely in the fourth quarter, he knew he was capable of making the throws Mayfield’s couldn’t, especially two to Njoku in the Browns’ final possession.

With a quarterback of Rodgers’ talents, likely three or four of those six losses would have gone the other way, and the Browns (7-8) wouldn’t need help to make the playoffs.

Those Browns' strengths might also appeal to other quarterbacks. Their situation is even better than in November 2007, when then-Browns General Manager Phil Savage proclaimed, "It's a pretty enviable cockpit to be riding in right now.''

The Seattle Seahawks may trade Russell Wilson, 33, although Wilson might have little say in that scenario. The Browns might jump at Raiders quarterback Derek Carr if an off-season shakeup in Las Vegas that began with the firing of coach Jon Gruden results in the franchise moving on from Carr. Bypassed by the Browns in the 2014 draft for Johnny Manziel, Carr, 30, has 23 fourth-quarter comebacks, which might force the Raiders to keep him.

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Like Rodgers, Carr saw the Browns in person, pulling off an eight-play, 41-yard drive to a game-winning field goal as time expired for a 16-14 victory in Cleveland on Dec. 20.

Watching what transpired Saturday in Green Bay, one Clevelander speculated on Twitter whether Rodgers’ fiancée, actress Shailene Woodley, would like living in Lakewood.

The Browns have much more to offer than a mansion or a high-rise condo on Lake Erie.

Great restaurants, a fan base just as dedicated as the Packers [minus the cheese headgear], an offensive coordinator [Alex Van Pelt] who spent six seasons in Green Bay, the 2020 NFL coach of the year [Kevin Stefanski].

If he seriously desires to move on, Saturday’s up-close view of the Browns situation should have given Rodgers much to think about.

Marla Ridenour can be reached at mridenour@thebeaconjournal.com. Read more about the Browns at www.beaconjournal.com/browns. Follow her on Twitter at www.twitter.com/MRidenourABJ.

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Cleveland Browns might try to sign Packers Aaron Rodgers in 2022