SAINT-DENIS, France — The New Orleans Saints spent millions of dollars and traveled thousands of miles to play the NFL’s first-ever game in France on Sunday.

In the end, the change in cultures, continents and time zones did nothing to mask their deficiencies as a football team or alter their prospects on the field. Their 16-10 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers was their fifth setback in seven games and left them in a familiar spot — at the bottom of the NFC South, the same place they’ve been for most of Kellen Moore’s tenure as head coach.

“Extremely frustrating,” center Erik McCoy said in the Saints’ claustrophobic postgame locker room.

“Did not see that coming,” veteran edge rusher Cam Jordan added.

The Saints have now lost 16 of their 24 games under Moore. And after seeing the same issues that undermined his team in previous setbacks recur midway through his second season, it’s fair to wonder whether he and his staff can solve them.

The bottom line is, winners win and losers lose. And the Saints are showing all of the hallmarks of a team that can’t stay out of its own way and finds different ways to lose.

They lose games where they have the lead and squander it (Raiders). And they lose games where they fall behind early and fall short late (Vikings). They lose offensive shootouts (Lions) and defensive slugfests (Steelers).

And afterward they sing a familiar refrain: Of being close. Of missed opportunities. And of plays they’d like to have back.

“We’re doing the right things,” quarterback Tyler Shough said. “We’re trending in the right direction. … But we’ve got to figure out how we can solve those things (that are leading to losses).”

The Saints are jousting a different windmill each week. This time their undoing was a non-existent running game, an attack that mustered a paltry 18 yards on 17 carries. It was the sixth-lowest rushing total in team history and their lowest output on the ground in nearly three decades. When Aaron Rodgers, the Steelers’ 42-year-old quarterback who has pondered retirement for each of the last two seasons, produces a run (8 yards) longer than anyone on your roster, you know you’ve got a problem.

“We truly have to dig into it from step one, evaluate the whole season as a whole, and find solutions,” Moore said.

Asked if he would consider staff changes over the bye week, he said, “We just got to evaluate everything. I'm not going to jump to anything right now. We just got to get better, and we'll focus on that.”

Leading up to kickoff, much was made of the contrasting preparation strategies employed by the two teams. The Saints were supposed to be the fresher, better acclimated team after spending the full week in Europe. The Steelers, who arrived overnight on Friday, were supposed to be the ones trying to recalibrate their body clocks.

But the Steelers rendered the entire debate irrelevant. If their body clocks were out of whack, it certainly wasn’t apparent by their effort or execution. They outmuscled the Saints in the trenches and outmaneuvered them in sideline adjustments. The Steelers never trailed, converted 10 of 16 third downs and finished five of their six possessions in Saints territory.

“They’ve got a good team,” Shough said. “We’ve got a really good team. We just (got) to keep climbing.”

The loss was a disappointing end to an otherwise successful week for the Saints, who turned the historic event into a platform to host a series of well-attended business and cultural events leading up to Sunday’s kickoff.

The NFL did its best to make it look and feel like a Saints home game. The Saints wore their favorite home uniform combination and played their traditional hype video on the jumbotron before kickoff. The Soul Rebels Brass Band performed a bouncy, NOLA-inspired rendition of the pregame National Anthem, and while Mark Romig was not on the mic, the bilingual stadium announcer honored him by announcing “Move ‘dem chains!” after each Saints first down.

To make the Saints feel even more at home, the game even featured some New Orleans-style dysfunction. The WiFi in the press box sputtered throughout the game, and the concession stands ran short of food and coffee by halftime.

The Saints clearly must have felt at home, because they did what they normally do in the Superdome. They lost. It was their fourth loss in as many “home” games this season.

“It was an awesome atmosphere, and it was really cool coming out there as a home team,” Shough said. “The entire week was great. It sucks losing, but we're very thankful for the opportunity.”

Added McCoy: “Paris was cool. Paris was awesome. They did a great job hosting us, but for me at least, it's hard to look past the fact that we came here and lost.”

Indeed, the Saints won the week. But the Steelers won the game, and that’s what mattered most.