There’s nothing so wrong with the Washington Redskins this preseason that a little trust wouldn’t alleviate it. Look around the NFL, and the Redskins are just the typical team bumbling through glorified practices and struggling to balance urgency with injury risk. The fact that their problems inspire such worry serves as another sad reminder that public confidence remains scarce, even three years into a resourceful coach’s solid rebuilding effort.

This bothers Jay Gruden. He mocks it to entertain a room full of reporters, but it bothers him. Last week, when a reporter asked him if it was “silly” to be excited about rookie running back Samaje Perine’s progress during the preseason, Gruden took a humorous shot.

“No, I mean you guys can get excited or down or whatever you guys want to do,” Gruden said while his audience laughed. “I mean, obviously, it’s doom and gloom if we lose, and we’re going to go undefeated if we win.”

He was having a little fun, as Gruden often does, to ease the tension. But even in jest, you could tell that he’s tired of coaching a team backed by little faith. Gruden also knows it is his responsibility to develop a level of consistent performance that would persuade observers to have a balanced perspective.

[For Redskins, more questions remain than have been answered as regular season looms]

1 of 47 Full Screen Autoplay Close Skip Ad × Scenes from the first week of the Redskins’ 2017 training camp View Photos Jay Gruden, Kirk Cousins and company begin preseason workouts in Richmond. Caption Jay Gruden, Kirk Cousins and company begin preseason workouts in Richmond. August 5, 2017 Members of the offensive line are show warming up during an afternoon practice at the Washington Redskins summer training camp in Richmond. John McDonnell/The Washington Post Buy Photo Wait 1 second to continue.

As Gruden begins his fourth season in Washington with back-to-back winning seasons and a 21-26-1 overall record, his challenge is to build something so stable that every little misstep doesn’t seem like a harbinger of failure. So far, the coach’s greatest strength has been his ability to keep advancing past chaos. Gruden is great at figuring out something, anything. Despite amassing a lot of offensive yards the past two seasons, Washington hasn’t been pretty, but it has made progress.

When it became clear that Robert Griffin III had lost the remainder of his magic, Gruden made it work with Kirk Cousins and helped him develop into a high-performing quarterback. When general manager Scot McCloughan was fired this offseason, Gruden took on more responsibility and made it work. He’s not a complainer; he’s a problem solver. Washington has yet to really prosper under Gruden, but it has survived many pitfalls that ruin rebuilding attempts. Now, the franchise is on the brink of an emphatic breakthrough.

Or it is on the brink of another massive disappointment. It’s still too close to call, but after this season, the direction should be clearer. Gruden, who has mastered resilience in his own laid-back manner, needs to do more than survive and make do this time. He has to show that he can direct a team that plays with urgency and consistency for an entire season. For as much as Gruden has done the last two seasons, he must erase the notion that his team is intriguing but unreliable.

The reaction — okay, overreaction — to Washington’s subpar first two preseason games isn’t merely because fans and media are impatient controversy hounds. It’s more about concern, or even frustration, that Washington still has a bad habit of being too casual. For a team with improved depth and an established offensive system, you want to see more flashes of brilliance. The competition for open starting spots isn’t as fierce as anticipated. As the games progress, you don’t see a clear advantage when the backups are playing, which suggests the bench isn’t as deep or as motivated as it needs to be. And Washington is supposed to have a passing game that produces at an elite level, but the offense isn’t able to line up, run anything in the playbook and impose its will right now.

There’s a lot of chill to this team, even as it enters the third preseason contest — the all-important dress rehearsal for a real game — on Sunday against Cincinnati at FedEx Field. Because Gruden is so chill, it’s only natural to wonder if the players are just following their coach.

[Redskins approaching Sunday’s preseason game as a dress rehearsal]

When it comes to temperament, Gruden will never be compared to Bill Belichick or Nick Saban. Contrary to preconceived beliefs about how a commanding coach looks and acts, Gruden doesn’t have to be a grumpy taskmaster to have success. Still, he’s searching for his place between mellow and maniacal. And even though he signed a two-year contract extension in the spring, which guarantees he’ll be paid through the 2020 season, Gruden must deal with the late collapse of last season, in which Washington didn’t play its best or its hardest when a playoff berth was on the line.

You remember the deal. After 10 games, the team was 6-3-1 and had just crushed Green Bay on Sunday night. Then it finished 2-4, including home losses to Carolina and the New York Giants , and didn’t make the postseason. When things have gone well for Washington, it hasn’t sustained the good times for long enough stretches. When things have gone poorly, it has recovered admirably. But how about a team that gets off to a good start, maintains a high level of play and saves its best football for December and beyond?

Grinding out a 9-7 season was impressive in 2015. Finishing 8-7-1 in 2016 was disappointing, but in the big picture of a rebuilding, it was easier to stomach. If Washington dances with .500 again this season, Gruden will face more heat. If it finishes below .500, there will be hard questions of whether the team has peaked under its coach. On the other hand, if this team finishes 10-6 or better, it will have solved some of its consistency problems and taken that glorious next step.

But more than record, you need to see a Washington football team that gives itself a realistic chance to win every week. The effort has to be there. The game plans must be solid. The defense has to contribute, and the offense has to be very good, at minimum.

As he enters his fourth season, Gruden is in command of this franchise. The front office has empowered him to build the team in his vision. He has job security (for now, because you must always use that disclaimer in Washington). He has influence. He has a core of offensive players who have been in his system for three or four years and enjoyed success. It’s on the coach to do his part to eliminate the distrust.

Gruden is already laughing off the overreaction. He can make an even funnier joke, however, if he turns all this August fuss into fall prosperity.

You have to make people believe. Not hope. Believe. More than anything, this is Gruden’s latest and toughest challenge.