A 21-14 loss to the Minnesota Vikings dropped the Cleveland Browns to 1-4 on the season, but they left London with some signs of hope at the quarterback position

23 weeks ago, many Cleveland Browns fans were left bewildered, when their favorite team used the No. 94 pick in the NFL Draft to select 24-year-old Dillon Gabriel. It was a perplexing decision for many NFL draft analysts as well. 

Gabriel wasn't considered a coveted QB prospect in this year's underwhelming QB draft class. He was considered undersized at 5'11" and there were questions about his arm strength, and ability to make all the throws at the pro level. 

For the Brows, those things didn't much matter. During Sunday's 21-17 loss to the Minnesota Vikings they didn't much matter either. 

Gabriel quickly turned that April bewilderment into October intrigue.

In his first career start – he became the first QB to make his first start in an international game – Gabriel went 19-for-33 for 190 yards and two touchdowns, one, on a nicely designed play to fellow rookie Harold Fannin Jr. in the first quarter. A second, to the veteran tight end David Njoku. 

Gabriel was poised and ran the offense extremely efficiently for most of the game. Head coach Kevin Stefanski, who has raved about Gabriel's experience as a six-year college player and smarts – kept things pretty conservative overall. It worked, until it didn't. 

The touchdowns throws were hardly his only highlights. Arguably his best throw of the day came just before the half. With Njoku and Jerry Jeudy running a smash concept, Gabriel uncorked an absolute dime to the former on a corner route, layered the throw perfectly between bracketed coverage so that the Pro Bowler could jump up and haul it in for 17 yards. 

That play paved the way for an Andre Szmyt field goal that gave the Browns a 10-7 lead heading into the break. It was the first time they led at halftime of any game this season. 

In total, Gabriel led three scoring scoring drives to help the Browns score 20 points in a game for the first time this season and the first time since Week 13 of last year.

More importantly, though, he protected the football, something veteran QB Joe Flacco failed to do in the first four weeks of the season. For once, Cleveland's offense wasn't playing behind the eight ball.

Stefanski made the switch to Gabriel this week hoping Gabriel would provide a spark for a group that was mostly non-competitive in four games. He got at least that, as the unit it looked competent for the first time in weeks. 

A heavy focus on the run game and more specifically rookie RB Quinshon Judkins, helped take some pressure off of Gabriel. Judkins gets better by the week. Today he notched 23 carries for 110 yards, good for a 4.8 yard per carry average. He became the first player in franchise history to record at least 70 scrimmage yards in each of his first four career games. 

Leaning on the run game and playing it safe worked for about 56 minutes of the game. But when Cleveland got the ball back with just 3:27 remaining and a chance to seal the win, two consecutive runs and an incomplete pass led to a three-and-out just 22 seconds later, leaving Minnesota plenty of time to orchestrate a game-winning drive. 

It was about as disappointing an ending to Gabriel's first start that anyone could have drawn up. 

As Stefanski continually preached after making the change to Gabriel, it was always going to take more for the offense to improve. Drops were still an issue, particularly for top wideout, Jeudy. Penalties proved costly today, as did the groups inability to extend drives, going just 3-of-15 on third downs.  

Still, it felt like Stefanski's decision making held Gabriel back the most. For as much as Cleveland's head man has touted Gabriel's smarts and experience, as much as he emphasized in the week leading up to his first start that he was ready for anything, the play-calling suggested otherwise. 

There weren't any real shots downfield and in the most pivotal moment of the game, Stefanski seemed afraid to let Gabriel win it. 

The silver-lining is that the move produced a better Browns offense overall. One game won't determine whether or not he's the future at quarterback for the franchise, but he certainly left fans hungry for more. The question is, will Stefanski be willing to give him more?