The bears have reached the point where staying afloat is becoming a real challenge.

It’s easy to wonder if the support Eberflus has always had from players is waning after all the doubts. Not all of this was from the media or fans. DJ Moore and Jaylon Johnson did it.

Cole Kmet may have done something even more telling by pointing out deficiencies in player preparation. Coaches are supposed to lead preparations, although Kmet says players cheat themselves “in the dark”, away from coaches. In any case, this is the responsibility of the coaches.

After his second year, he had to restructure the offense with new coaches, and throughout it all, Eberflus had the support of general manager Ryan Poels and, presumably, Bears decision makers such as president Kevin Warren and chairman George McCaskey.

This is nothing like the team collapse that the Bears experienced in 2014 under coach Marc Trestman in his second season. If they were ever going to fire a coach during the season it would have been then, but then who would coach the team for the rest of the season because the staff was no better than Trestman.

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These Bears haven’t given up on Eberflus, or at least say they support him.

“Yeah, you’ll have to ask these guys,” Eberflus said. “I’m going to be the person I’ve been and the leader I’ve been and just be resilient throughout the process.

“We are a team that is growing, and we are a team that is getting better, and we will overcome these adversities.”

The real potential flaw in Eberflus’ statement is that they are growing and getting better. Last week’s loss to a team with a similar record doesn’t indicate that. They have beaten weaker teams and remain winless on the road with a 3-17 record under his leadership. They don’t beat good teams. The only ones they beat in his two and a half seasons were Detroit last year and San Francisco in his very first game, but that was with the 49ers using a quarterback who had nothing to play for.

As for Eberflus, it will become clear to everyone whether he needs to leave, and this could happen before the end of the season.

The deciding factor will be the schedule.

The Bears have already squandered their opportunity to take on a slew of Super Bowl contending teams in the second half. They could have gone 6-1, even 7-0 if Kyler Gordon had had a pick-6 against the Texans in the second half.

Instead, they are 4-3 and currently playing the easiest schedule. They play the second-hardest schedule, based on their opponents’ record through the end of the match (.546). Only the Lions (.550) have a tougher schedule. And after the Bears play New England next week, it will be their toughest remaining schedule.

Even New England is showing signs of improvement after their comeback win over the Jets. It starts with the Cardinals and a meeting with his former coach, Jonathan Gannon, and the team that Eberflus’ team beat easily last year.

This looks like another chance to demonstrate regression.

“I’ve said it before: Every week in the NFL is a week, and this week is this week,” Eberflus said. “We’re a very good football team in Arizona. They won a couple of games towards the end and executed well, moved the ball very well. (Cardinals back James) Conner and this offensive line are doing a great job. so the quarterback can run too.”

The “Bears” will either sink or swim the rest of the way on their own, in conditions of fierce competition. Teams that lack unity around their coach will never survive such a test, especially with a rookie quarterback who is as prone to mistakes as he is to making big plays.

What they say or refuse to say now doesn’t mean as much as what they have to do on the field.

“The implications for everything: We lost the game and it’s important that we focus on Arizona now,” Eberflus said. “Again, it (the defeat) was tough, no doubt about it. Once again, we’re heading to Arizona, and it’s important that everyone does that, and it’s my job as the head coach to get this group moving on to getting ready for Arizona. game.”

They’re better off because it would be easy to lose on the road against a team that is improving like the Cardinals did, and the only thing this team hasn’t done yet that the 2014 Trestman Bears did in their free fall is get eliminated. This happened to them several times.

Keep an eye on the scoreboard to see if things are moving in the wrong direction.

The Bears don’t have to say they support Eberflus, and Eberflus doesn’t have to say anything about punishing Stevenson, but how they start playing games against real competition will determine whether it matters going forward.

Twitter: BearsOnSI