FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – The New England Revolution currently sit in second place in the Eastern Conference standings, having lost just twice in the past 13 games. Their 20 goals are tied with Supporters’ Shield leader D.C. United for most in the East. They even boast Major League Soccer’s longest home unbeaten run, having not lost in 16 games (10-0-6) at Gillette Stadium.

But, true as they may be, those facts and statistics don’t cloud the fact that the Revs are going through a bit of a rough patch at the moment. This past weekend in Portland they were shut out for the first time in nine games, and their winless run stretched to six (0-2-4) with a second straight road loss.

The month-long run of frustrating results has stung the Revolution’s pride, and they’ll be looking to channel that frustration into motivation on Saturday evening when the Chicago Fire comes to town.

“When you get a group of guys that are very competitive and want to win at all costs, you know after a few disappointing results that you’re going to want to go out there and get a win the following game,” said Teal Bunbury. “This next game against Chicago is our biggest game this season.”

There’s a balance to be struck, of course, between playing with pure passion and focusing intensely on the task at hand. Going too far in either direction likely won’t get the Revs where they need to go.

But it’s a balance they’ve struck before. Revolution fans won’t need to be reminded that the club went through an agonizing eight-game losing streak last summer, only to battle through and put things together in late August en route to a 9-1-2 run to close the season, capped off with a trip to MLS Cup.

“None of the guys are happy, the coaches aren’t happy, but we’re not getting down on ourselves,” said Andrew Farrell. “We know we’re a great team and we’ve shown in most of the games, in spells, that we can do really well. We’re staying positive, moving on and hopefully getting a good result this weekend.”

After drawing their past three home games – all of which they led 1-0 – a good result for the Revs this weekend would be a win and nothing less, particularly with five of their next seven matches to be played on the road after Saturday’s meeting with Chicago.

“It’s been six games now that we haven’t gotten a result that we wanted, so we’ve got to put it past us and move on,” said Farrell. “It’s a good opportunity at home to get three points against a good Chicago team. But it’s time for three points.”