Eberflus described the culture he has been trying to establish for almost two years in Lake Forest as “awesome,” asserted that the last-place Bears are “turning a corner,” and, on multiple occasions, pointed to the team’s.500 record over the last month as evidence they have legitimate reasons to feel encouraged and optimistic.

But that messaging might not resonate with most of an outside audience that has watched the Bears continually stumble on the field—they are 5-20 under Eberflus—while experiencing repeated tumult behind the scenes, the most recent being Wednesday’s sudden firing of running backs coach David Walker for what is believed to be concerning misconduct.

“As the head coach,” Eberflus said, “we are building a program and have standards to uphold as a staff and organization both on and off the field. And those standards were not met.”