The Alabama Crimson Tide is taking the field this week coming off two straight losses in the regular season for the first time since 2007, and in the SEC, things do not magically get easier.

Set to host Texas A&M this week at Bryant-Denny Stadium, Alabama is playing for its playoff lives each and every week for the remainder of the season – now two losses on the record and needing to avoid a third to crack a 12-team CFP field.

The Aggies have struggled through significant portions of the season, sitting at 1-3 in SEC play with some ugly losses of their own. As two touchdown favorites at home, losing this game would be unacceptable from the Crimson Tide.

Despite the fact that Texas A&M has struggled, Mike Elko will still bring a very talented roster into Tuscaloosa that the program spent a ton of money on. Even though things have not clicked, they are capable of winning this game.

It’s not to say Kalen DeBoer is going to be fired if Alabama were to lose this week, but if that were to happen, his defenders would be left with little to say.

There would be toxicity riddled across the state from the fanbase and the calls to get rid of DeBoer and the coaching staff would only get louder. The fringe minority of the fanbase who have been calling for his job since day one would no longer be a fringe minority.

At the end of the day, it’s not likely Alabama loses this game, but this coaching staff should go into it knowing that if they do, the word uncomfortable is going to have a whole new definition.