Ricky Jean Francois reacts after the Redskins won in Baltimore, their fifth win in a row away from FedEx Field. Washington hasn’t lost a road game since last Nov. 22 at Carolina. (Nick Wass/Associated Press)

Remember when Jay Gruden’s teams couldn’t go on the road without crashing?

Yeah, that’s as old now as the Dab.

The coach who started his Washington Redskins tenure losing 12 of 13 road games has won five straight dating from last season. It’s Gruden at his self-correcting best. In 37 games as an NFL head coach, he keeps improving at a gradual pace for a developing leader in a league that feasts on developing leaders. Tell Gruden he can’t do something, criticize him for troubling trends involving his teams, and he’ll get out the eraser. Gruden hasn’t eliminated all his flaws. That’s impossible; he’s human, you know. But he reacts well to areas that need fixing, and in doing so, he increases the hope that he’s the crazy coach built to do this job for longer than most have under Daniel Snyder.

Nothing is guaranteed. Gruden won’t be able to start planning too far ahead until he gets the team out of this phase in which it constantly teeters between competence and calamity. But the progress is greater than his 16-21 regular season record shows. He has taken a team that used to fold and turned it resilient. He has improved a quarterback situation that once seemed destined for failure if Gruden couldn’t restore Robert Griffin III. And he has a team that doesn’t expect misery every time it plays away from FedEx Field.

The Washington Post's Scott Allen and Keith McMillan break down the Redskins' Week 5 victory over the Ravens. (Thomas Johnson/The Washington Post)

Washington (3-2) began the season with back-to-back home losses but rebounded with wins on the road against the New York Giants and Baltimore. Before the season, if someone had suggested an 0-2 start at home, the prediction would’ve been at least a losing record through five games and possibly a complete disaster. Instead, Washington is about where it should be.

There’s a natural tendency to rate the strength of victories, even though the NFL is a 32-team league with tiers separated by faint lines. Washington won the NFC East and made the playoffs without beating a team that finished with a winning record last season. This season? We’ll see how they finish, but the Giants were 2-0 before Washington gave them the first of what has become three straight losses. And on Sunday, the Ravens were 3-1 before Washington left M&T Bank Stadium with a 16-10 victory.

In 2015, Gruden’s team lost its first five road games . Early last December, the Redskins were 5-7 and faced a schedule with three road contests in their final four games. They won all three, over Chicago, Philadelphia and Dallas .

[Brewer, from Nov. 2015: Hard to take Redskins seriously until they improve on the road]

Look at the list of teams, and this five-game road winning streak isn’t full of eye-popping victories. But who really goes on the road and beats great teams with regularity? It still matters that, when the Redskins were desperate to stay in the playoff race, they won on the road at the end of 2015. They clinched the division last December with an emphatic 38-24 win in Philadelphia, their best performance of that season. This year they’ve emerged from an 0-2 hole by winning on the road. They’ve done plenty to legitimize their road winning streak. And despite the success, they can play better, cleaner and less chaotic.

“Psychologically, we know that wasn’t our best effort,” left tackle Trent Williams said of the victory at Baltimore. “Winning in nasty games, it’s a learning experience, but for the most part, we want to dominate. And we had chances there. We left a lot out on the field. We had chances to dominate [the No. 3 defense] in the league. You don’t get that chance too often, especially on the road.

“It’s a bittersweet feeling. You feel great you came out with the win, but you know that you left a lot of points out on the field. It’s humbling. You know that you can’t just go and celebrate like you wanted to because we didn’t play like we’re capable of.”

1 of 84 Full Screen Autoplay Close Week 16: Washington 41, Bears 21 at Soldier Field Week 15: Carolina Panthers 26, Redskins 15 at FedEx Field. Week 14: Redskins 27, Philadelphia Eagles 22, at Lincoln Financial Field. Week 13: Arizona Cardinals 31, Redskins at University of Phoenix Staduim Week 12: Dallas Cowboys 31, Redskins 26 at AT&T Stadium Week 11: Washington 42, Green Bay 24, at FedEx Field. Week 9: Washington 26, Minnesota Vikings 20 at FedEx Field. Week 8: Washington 27, Bengals 27, at Wembley Field in London. Week 7: Washington 17, Lions 20 at Ford Field. Week 6: Washington 27, Eagles 20 at FedEx Field. Week 5: Washington 16, Ravens 10 in Baltimore. Week 4: Washington 31, Cleveland Browns 20 at FedEx Field. Week 3: Washington 29, NY Giants 27 at MetLife Stadium. Skip Ad × Photos from the Redskins season so far View Photos A look at the standout images from Washington’s games in 2016. Caption Washington went 8-7-1 and missed the playoffs by a whisker. Here’s a look at the standout images from 2016. Reed celebrated his touchdown, which he hoped would set the stage for a dramatic Washington win. Nick Wass/Associated Press Buy Photo Wait 1 second to continue.

There was a time when Washington would have highlighted the positives of simply playing a close game on the road. On Sunday, the players planned to turn on their computers during the bus ride home, see video of what went wrong and learn from their mistakes.

“We’re going to be judging ourselves, making corrections,” defensive lineman Ziggy Hood said. “So by the time we get back to Ashburn, we’re going to know what our mistakes were before we even get off the bus. Then it’s back to work.”

It’s a mentality that starts with Gruden. He’s pragmatic; his team is grounded in the same reality. Too many silly things continue to happen on Sundays, from play-calling to mental errors to physical limitations, and there’s no escaping the need to improve. But there’s something to be said for a team that, through the highs and lows, doesn’t relent.

“I just know that, to win those games you have to be mentally, physically and emotionally tough,” quarterback to Kirk Cousins said. “And resilient. That’s the kind of team I like to be a part of.”

The success of this season may depend on Washington finishing with a winning road record. The competition at FedEx Field, where the team has a 1-2 mark so far, doesn’t get easier.

The final five home games: Philadelphia, Minnesota, Green Bay, Carolina and the Giants. The first three teams have a combined 11-2 record. And then there are the Panthers, who played in the Super Bowl last season and figure to be much better than 1-3 when it visits Dec. 19. And that Giants game, in the season finale, has the potential to carry playoff implications.

Usually when a team faces a home schedule this daunting, it spells trouble for the entire season because road victories are so difficult to earn. But does this Washington team do anything conventionally?

“We know that we’re a talented bunch, and we know that we’ve got so much more that we can offer,” Williams said.

Five straight victories have given Washington a new road identity, but there’s no time for complacency. To survive this season, the road will have to become an even more comfortable place.

For more by Jerry Brewer, visit washingtonpost.com/brewer.