METAIRIE, La. — With three consecutive home games in November ahead of them after winning two games in five days in late October, the New Orleans Saints had to feel like they were sitting pretty in the weak NFC South.

They had climbed to 4-4 to get to .500 for the first time this season after a satisfying 44-23 blowout of the Green Bay Packers, their only loss in the last two months, and a 28-10 beating of the Carolina Panthers on a Thursday night and appeared to be set for a strong run at the division title.

But things have gone awfully wrong in an overtime loss to the San Francisco 49ers and an uninspiring 27-10 setback to the Cincinnati Bengals the last two weeks, putting the Saints (4-6) in a sticky situation going into a Monday night matchup with the Baltimore Ravens (6-4).

Monday night’s game will wrap up the Saints’ much-anticipated three-week homestand, but their recent success with 11 straight wins there seems like a distant memory after back-to-back losses with the Ravens coming in next.

While they’re shocked, the Saints still believe they have a chance despite the daunting task they now face with games against the Ravens and a visit the following Sunday to the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Still, they know they’re only 4-6 and can ill afford to lose many more games even if they’re tied for the division lead with six games to play.

“Clearly, they, we, us as a team, understand that we’re 4-6 right now,” Saints coach Sean Payton said. “They understand that. … They understand there have been a number of tough losses, close losses, so that margin for error now at this point in the season becomes that much more slight.

“We are playing a six-game season right now really. I think the focus and the emphasis by now will shift very quickly to Baltimore. I think they understand that.”

While they can still make the playoffs and host a playoff game by winning the NFC South, both Payton and quarterback Drew Brees said that can’t be the focus at this point.

“That is the truth, but we cannot escape the reality of where we are right now,” Brees said. “We’re a 4-6 team right now, but I believe we can be much better than that. None of us are happy with that … none of us feel that since we are still in contention that it’s good enough.”

The best part of it, he said, is there’s time to prove it — much like they did against the Packers and Panthers.

“We still have a lot of work to do. I think we’ve proved to ourselves, based upon that Green Bay game, based upon that Carolina game, that we can be a really good team if we get out there and do what winning football teams do,” Brees said. “These last two weeks, we haven’t made enough of those plays, we haven’t done some of those things that winning football teams do. We need to be more consistent.”