Sweeney: This turnaround, unthinkable 2 months ago, is amazing - and can keep going from here

FOXBOROUGH — As I sit here on Blue Level, the last sands of Wednesday night trickling through the hourglass, I’m trying to wrap my head around something, and I can only feel one question bouncing off the inner surfaces of my rather fat Irish-American cranium:

Just what in the hell are we watching here with this Revolution side?

You might recall that in early May, I had absolutely written this team off. The Revolution had only won two games in 2019, and couldn’t get out of their own way. New England had lost a midweek horror show to Montreal, dropped a two-goal lead on the road to Sporting Kansas City, and then was obliterated by Philadelphia and Chicago in consecutive five-goal blowouts.

And once the Revs lost out on Paul-Jose M’Poku — presumably the player that Brad Friedel claimed “wants to play here, wants to live here” back on March 24 — I had declared that the New England front office waved the white flag on the 2019 season.

Of course, that set off a tidal wave. Friedel, see you later. It’s not us, it’s you.

Scott Caldwell, one of the elder statesmen of this Revolution team, came out in front of the Boston Soccer Press Corps and said that we have to be better.

Michael Burns? Thank you for your loyalty, but you cannot get a third bite of the apple.

The next day, Bruce Arena was hired, and he got both jobs.

Somewhere in the middle of that 96-hour stretch of tumultuous activity, and with interim coach Mike Lapper in the technical area, the Revolution — with the same players who looked lifeless, listless, and lost — thumped San Jose, 3-1, in this building.

And sure, there was a bump. A scoreless draw in Montreal which was ugly soccer. A week later, Matt Turner planted Wayne Rooney. A week after that, a tremendous 2-1 win over LA Galaxy in Arena’s New England debut.

A win over the Red Bulls in the Open Cup. A draw against Philadelphia in Arena’s first home game. But since then, back-to-back wins over Houston and Colorado, last Friday’s 2-2 draw against DC United — on the road, mind you — and now, Wednesday night’s 4-0 clean sheet over Vancouver.

That’s now nine straight in the league without a loss, 5-0-4 in that time, something that hasn’t been done in the regular season ‘round these parts since the early stages of the 2015 season (weeks 3 through 11 that year, if you want to be absolutely precise). They almost did it twice that year, as the Revs finished out the campaign — you know, a playoff year — with eight straight unbeaten.

New England plays at FC Cincinnati on Sunday night, a team that has won two in a row heading into tonight’s nationally televised soiree against DC United. The Blue and Orange are dead last in the Eastern Conference, so that should — should, should — be 10 in a row. The Revs follow that up with Orlando City next Saturday, and it should be pointed out that the Lions have never won at Gillette Stadium.

Dare I say 11 in a row?

After that, it’s Los Angeles Football Club — sorry, the Western Conference-leading LAFC, I forgot my manners — coming here to kick off August. With the way the Revs are surging right now ...

Of course, we have to take things one game at a time. There are no gimmes in Major League Soccer — except, well, Wednesday night in Foxborough — but the fact the Revs have a full head of steam and are showing no signs of slowing down cannot go unnoticed. In fact, it hasn’t: MLSSoccer.com's Bobby Warshaw, one of the league pundits who said the Revs wouldn’t make the playoffs this year… threw away that predo on Wednesday afternoon and said, “The Revs are making the playoffs. It’s only a question of who they’re replacing.”

And the last time this happened — 2015 — the Revs made the playoffs.

And that brings us back to our original question: What are we watching? And just for good measure, I’ll add in a few more: Are the Revs actually, erm, good? Is the season not lost? Are these the same players that couldn’t figure out that you can’t give up back-to-back five-goal losses?

And right now, the answers to these are simple: We’re watching an amazing turnaround; they are inconsistent, but are learning how to be good; no, it doesn’t look it any longer; and believe it or not, yes. They are the same players, and it makes us wonder just what in the wild, wild world of sports is going on.

As Caldwell, umbrella in hand, prepared to leave the locker room Wednesday night, an onlooker said to him, “Nine games unbeaten, that makes me happy.”

The Braintree native wore a wide grin.

“Me, too.”

Me, too.

And as another denizen of this building famously said a few years ago: “We’re on to Cincinnati.”

Yup. We are.