Some of us binned the Christmas sweater worn every game since this wretched run began at the turn of the year, while the manager even toyed with the idea of reversing his famous baseball cap and going gangland on us.
STRIKE ONE: Stoke hit-man Peter Crouch connects with Cameron Jerome's cross to put the Potters ahead. Pictures: Mark Scott
HAPPY DAYS: Stoke players celebrate their opener, while dejected QPR keeper Robert Green retrieves the ball from the back of the net following Peter Crouch's goal.
SPOT ON: Jonathan Walters converts a penalty to fire Stoke into a 2-0 lead after City old boy Clint Hill had fouled Peter Crouch. Inset: Hill is booked by referee Chris Foy after conceding the penalty. Below: Robert Huth challenges QPR midfielder Shaun Derry for the ball at Loftus Road.
HEADS UP: Stoke defender Robert Huth challenges Shaun Derry for the ball during Saturday's match at Loftus Road.
The truth behind Stoke's victory, only their second in 2013 and second in 26 away games, owed rather more to basic physical attributes than anything so superstitious.
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There was no great secret to their success as Stoke simply played like a team gripped not by fear, pressure and ineptitude, but by a visible resilience and clear determination to reverse their miserable fortunes.
This was a team inspired, not cowed, by the realisation that it was very nearly a case of now or never if they were to have everyone believing in Premier League salvation once again.
Victory at Loftus Road, against admittedly average hosts heading straight for the Championship, secures nothing yet, of course, but it lays down one hell of an encouraging platform ahead of forthcoming six-pointers at home to Norwich and at Sunderland.
And that six-point lead over Wigan is effectively seven given Stoke's superior goal difference, one healthy buffer even if the FA Cup finalists do have a game in hand.
Stoke defended and attacked more as a team than we have become depressingly accustomed to, while individual errors were mercifully absent from their own penalty area.
When Charlie Adam trod on the ball just inside his own half during another of his many attempts to initiate something more profitable than a mere punt forward, the breaking Rangers players were quickly surrounded before they could inflict any damage from open play. Such was Stoke's collective heartbeat.
Only the talented Loic Remy provided a consistent threat in and around the Stoke box, but his shooting often mirrored that of his team by invariably heading towards the crowd.
One exception came early in the second half when his twisting body and light feet led Stoke a merry dance before his low shot was saved by the impeccable Asmir Begovic.
And Saturday saw Stoke enjoying not good fortune, but the breaks you need to end such an horrendous loss of form, such as the moment just before half-time when Christopher Samba's outstretched foot flicked a free-kick half-a-yard wide of the far post when Begovic was beaten for once.
Going forward, meanwhile, Stoke consistently served notice of their willingness to attack with more belief and more numbers than usually witnessed during a run of one away win in 15 months before Saturday.
TV pundits highlighted the moment Adam centred into a box devoid of any colleagues early in the afternoon, but what they didn't show was Peter Crouch stuck in midfield, hands on knees, recovering from a knock or gasping for oxygen.
Either way, this was more like the Crouch of old as he played better and more effectively than in any of those previous 26 appearances which had yielded him just the one goal.
And his reward came in the 42nd minute when he opened the scoring against the team he once played for and the manager who nearly signed him for a fourth time back in January.
It was Marc Wilson's perfectly-weighted and directed ball down the left channel that propelled Cameron Jerome into the kind of chase he thrives upon.
And then came another of those little breaks eluding Stoke so often in 2013 when Jerome's low ball benefited from the slightest of deflections to sit up for Crouch to tuck it away via the keeper's hapless dive.
Rangers remained a competitive threat thereafter, but the game was up once Robert Huth headed a free-kick against the far post inside the final 15 minutes and Clint Hill, that most earnest of ex-Stokies, grabbed Crouch round the waist for a quick tango to prevent the big man latching on to the loose ball.
Jon Walters then produced two of the most clinical penalties you could ever wish to see within the space of 30 seconds.
The first careered into the roof of the net, but was disallowed for encroachment by QPR; the second travelled almost as quickly into the keeper's bottom right-hand corner to unleash relieved and delirious acclaim from 1,200 Stoke fans behind the goal.
They were so intoxicated by the moment that there were even shouts of "Tony, Tony give us a wave" and "Tony Pulis' barmy army".
All is not forgiven by the wider supporter base, you suspect, but that remains quite a show of affection from those diehards always willing to follow Stoke to the ends of the earth.
And let's be honest, after five points from the previous 42, that's exactly where they were once threatening to take us.
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