NEW ORLEANS — At some point, the New Orleans Saints are going to have to win the football games they should be winning.

If the Saints don’t, they’re going to be on the outside looking in at playoff time — especially when you consider they have already lost as many games as they did in 2013 when they earned a wild-card berth.

So again, just as it was early in the season, the focus will be on finishing when the Saints (4-5) host the Cincinnati Bengals (5-3-1) on Sunday in what will be a very important game for the NFC South leaders.

The Saints dropped a 27-24 overtime decision to the San Francisco 49ers last Sunday, marking the fourth time this season that they couldn’t hold on to a late fourth-quarter lead — clearly the difference in them being 4-5 and possibly 8-1.

On Wednesday, Saints coach Sean Payton said it’s the little things that are costing his team — which is quite evident considering they have dropped those four games by a total of nine points.

“You don’t know what specific play you can point to (late in games), and yet, you can point to very easily starting quicker,” Payton said. “We put ourselves in a hole, but again … it is doing all of the little things.

“You don’t know when it comes up or when that play comes. That is just something that we have to keep working on getting better at.”

As a result, Payton said he isn’t at all surprised that his team has only been .500 once this season and is wallowing around in a weak NFC South race when the Saints came into the season with Super Bowl aspirations.

“Listen, you get frustrated at times and you realize you’re close in a number of games, but you don’t look at it,” he noted. “As a coach, and I know our staff is the same way, we look at it going into the season saying, ‘All right, is it going to be 12 or 13 wins?’ Man, in this league you have to earn them each week.”

Payton couldn’t deny that the close losses — two by three points, one by two points and one by a single point — are frustrating. He also pointed out that his team has been fortunate to win some of those nail-biters as well over the years.

“I think it’s what drives you to get back to practice and get back to prepare and focus quickly on the best way to correct it next,” he said. “We have to continue to teach. We have to continue to cover the details and understand that this is a different team. This team will, and I said this when the season started, will make its mark whatever that is.”

He knows, however, that his team has to find the magic even in a division race that no one seems to want to win.

“Do you get frustrated? Yes,” Payton said. “Are some of those losses tough? Absolutely, they are, and yet you cannot allow it to get you down. It has to be 24 hours, maybe a little longer and then you’re on, the preparation is on (to the next game). Our focus now is on Cincinnati, and we are playing for a lot. This is an important game for us.”