HARRISON, N.J. — The Red Bulls have won nothing. The Red Bulls finished No. 1 over all in Major League Soccer, but the Red Bulls have won nothing. The Red Bulls won the league’s Supporters Shield on Sunday night at Red Bull Arena.

They have won nothing but a piece of silverware, the first in club history. Now, five games stands between the club and its first league championship.

After spotting the Chicago Fire a goal, the Red Bulls scored five unanswered goals to race away with a 5-2 victory and clinch the top spot in the Eastern Conference and a chance to host the league championship game, M.L.S. Cup in December. (No. 1 over all also gives the Red Bulls a berth in next season’s Concacaf Champions League.)

For a club that began as the MetroStars in 1996 and has endured 18 seasons of failure and despair, the result lifted a boulder off the chest of management and the players, but mostly from Coach Mike Petke, a New York guy who played here and says he bleeds for the team.