And neither has Real Salt Lake.

With the veteran striker scoring twice and making the cross that resulted in a game-winning own-goal, RSL beat the Chicago Fire 3-1 in front of 14,752 fans at Rice-Eccles Stadium on Saturday night to continue an unprecedented surge that suddenly has them in the thick of the playoff hunt.

"It has been gratifying to see the guys get their due," coach John Ellinger said.

And how.

RSL has won three games and tied one since snapping its agonizing 18-game winless streak last month, and Cunningham has been a huge reason. He has scored six goals in those four games, and his heroics against the Fire came in his return to the starting lineup, after coming off the bench in the previous three games.

"Four weeks ago was, by far, the lowest point of my career," Cunningham said. "And a couple of games later, I'm one of the leading scorers in the league, so God's good."

Cunningham started because rookie Atiba Harris was serving a yellow-card suspension, and he continued to set the league ablaze - even though he acknowledged being exhausted on the field after playing just 91 minutes combined the last three weeks.

"His confidence is sky-high," Ellinger said.

It showed, several times.

The sixth-leading scorer in league history tracked down a perfectly timed pass from teammate Carey Talley in the 57th minute and gave RSL the lead by zipping a left-footed shot on a difficult angle toward the far post, past diving Chicago goalkeeper Zack Thornton.

"With Jeff's speed . . . I knew that if I just put the ball into space, the guy would run it down," Talley said. "It was actually a pretty easy ball to play."

Just five minutes after Cunningham celebrated by leaping into the stands in the northwest corner of the stadium, the Fire equalized on rookie Brian Plotkin's blast from 25 yards out. But RSL showed its renewed swagger by refusing to wilt the way it might have in the past.

In the 69th minute, Cunningham dribbled past Chicago's Logan Pause on the left side and directed a low pass toward teammate Jason Kreis in front of the net. Chicago's Dasan Robinson intercepted it, but wound up finding his own net with an apparent attempt to chip the ball clear back over the goal.

"The own-goal, I think that's the first one we've ever had, to my knowledge," Ellinger said. "Every game's a first, that's the good thing."

By that point, RSL had begun to overwhelm the Fire, who were playing their ninth straight road game to begin the season before returning home to open their new suburban stadium next weekend.

So when Cunningham found himself all alone and under no pressure just outside the box on the right side in the 77th minute, he figured he would just try an easy chip shot - the way a golfer might easily lift a 9-iron shot to the green.

It worked wonderfully.

Like a soft kiss, the ball floated ever so gently over both defender C.J. Brown and Thornton, who were helpless to stop its perfect placement from giving RSL a 3-1 lead and pushing Cunningham into a tie for the league scoring lead. He has seven goals, along with Jaime Moreno of D.C. United and Carlos Ruiz of FC Dallas - both of whom scored Saturday.

Now, RSL is 3-5-2 with 11 points and in fourth place in the MLS Western Conference, with five of its next seven games on the road. But it has never gone on the road with this kind of confidence before.

RSL 3, Chicago 1

IN SHORT - Striker Jeff Cunningham scored his sixth goal in four games to help RSL improve to 3-0-1 since snapping an 18-game winless streak.

KEY STAT - Cunningham has 16 goals in 28 career games against Chicago.

KEY MOMENT - Goalkeeper Scott Garlick stops a point-blank shot by Chicago's Andy Herron just moments before an own-goal gives Garlick his 100th career victory.