METAIRIE, La. — For weeks and weeks, the New Orleans Saints had to answer questions about their road woes — their regular-season losing streak reached seven games.

Now that they’ve taken care of that with back-to-back road wins against the Carolina Panthers and Pittsburgh Steelers, the Saints are trying to get back to their winning ways in the noisy Superdome.

The Saints won a game they had to have with a strong performance against the Steelers to remain in the hunt for the NFC South title.

So now the emphasis for the Saints (5-7) shifts back to winning at home when they return to the Superdome for a matchup with the Panthers (3-8-1) on Sunday. The Saints, who have lost three straight home games, must win to at least retain a share of first place in the division with the Atlanta Falcons, who play at Green Bay on Monday night.

“I think it gets back to the road question,” coach Sean Payton said. “It gets back to playing good football whether you’re home or on the road. I think being able to do a lot of the little things we were able to do successfully (in a 35-32 win over the Steelers) was good.”

Throughout a frustrating three-game losing streak, Payton said he did not see any sign of his team giving up. That mental toughness, he said, helped them do what they couldn’t do when they normally play at home — where they lost to the San Francisco 49ers, Cincinnati Bengals and Baltimore Ravens after crushing the Green Bay Packers 44-23 in late October.

“This is a league that can humble you quickly,” Payton said, “and I think that each week you’re getting ready to play an opponent and whether you play … away or home, you have to be prepared to play your best football game. If you don’t do that, it really doesn’t matter who you’re playing.

“I think, as we work through the season and get to where we are now, there is a little bit of thickness in the skin, because you understand about things that don’t go your way. … It’s easy things you can get corrected and you want to make sure it doesn’t happen again.”

Now that they’re preparing to start the final quarter of the 16-game schedule, Payton knows they may have to win out to win the weakest division in the NFL.

But the Saints have had some nice winning streaks at the end of the season since he arrived in 2006, and Payton believes it can be done again.

“It starts with this game,” he said. “You want to build on the way we played last week. That very topic was this morning’s highlight and it was the details of everything we do.

“As we hit this final four-game stretch, paying attention to details, correcting mistakes, film study, it’s all the little things I think that go into the overall success.”

SERIES HISTORY: The Panthers lead 20-19. The NFC South foes split two matchups a year ago and the Saints won the first meeting this season, on Oct. 30. The Saints won 28-10 in Bank of America Stadium on a Thursday night, ending a seven-game regular-season losing streak on the road. The Saints will be trying to sweep the season series with the Panthers for the third time in five seasons. Sean Payton’s team swept in 2010 and 2011 to start a stretch in which they’ve won six of the last nine meetings.

NOTES: RB Khiry Robinson practiced on a limited basis Wednesday after missing six consecutive games with a forearm injury. He could play Sunday. … RB Mark Ingram was limited in practice with ankle and toe injuries, and his status for Sunday’s game is unknown. … RB Travaris Cadet was limited with a hamstring injury but should be able to play Sunday. … QB Drew Brees was honored Wednesday as the NFC Offensive Player of the Week. It’s the 18th time that Brees has won the award in nine seasons with the Saints. No player has earned more player-of-the-week nods in that time than Brees, who also was the AFC Offensive Player of the Week twice when he played for the San Diego Chargers (2001-05).