The Portland Timbers put together a terrific marketing campaign ahead their inaugural MLS season in 2011, but the best plug I witnessed for the new team was at the old PGE Park in 2010. It was the team's last year of minor league soccer in a minor league baseball stadium, and all eyes were turned towards the coming spring and the spectacle and stage it would give Portland to show itself as Soccer City, USA.

At halftime of a match that season, a man and his young son were standing in line at a concession stand getting ready to buy dinner, when a Timbers Army member intercepted the man at the register and offered to pay for his son's meal.

The man said thanks, and the Army member said, "No problem—but I want to see you back here next year."

That moment made an impression, and it was a sign of things to come. Five years into an MLS odyssey that has had its share of ups and downs, one constant remains: Portland's fans are its best virtue and most famous calling card. For 86 matches and counting, the stadium has been sold out. It's not a player that defines the Timbers. It's still the fans.

And that is, without a question, one of the most frustrating things about this organization.

Portland's double-anniversary season has been one of immense frustration. With three games to go in the season, the Timbers are tied on points for the final playoff spot in the Western Conference. They've scored the second fewest goals in the league, won less than half their home games, and seem incapable of consistently playing with top teams.

Maybe Portland ends up in the playoffs, maybe not. In any case, Caleb Porter's third year has shaken the foundation of a franchise that highly values steadfast belief in itself and its approach. The Timbers need to win two of their final three matches to best their points total from last year, which was, of course, worse than their points total in Porter's first year in 2013.

The whispers have started about Porter's future in Portland. It's still extremely unlikely that the Timbers will fire a manager they have invested so much in and fell so hard for, but it's not inconceivable that Porter and the club will huddle, step back, and call time on a reign that started with a flash and has fizzled.

Porter strongly refuted rumors that he's on his way out on Friday, but the Tacoma native has aged considerably in his three years here. He's made plenty of enemies, and the idealism and swagger that gave the Timbers such chutzpah two years ago are gone. This year, Porter has openly embraced pragmatism and, at this point, appears to be totally out of ideas.

This year has been hard on the coach and on the franchise because all the pieces are in place to win consistently. There's a top-notch defense for the first time, and plenty of individual attacking talent that, for whatever reason, hasn't clicked.

Still, Porter would be crazy to leave Portland. This is one of the premier jobs in American soccer. Why?

Because of the fans.

It all comes back to the supporters. They've forged the identity, and they know it too. That's part of the reason why the team's switch from TriMet to Uber stung—members of the Army know that the franchise owes them a lot from their bottom line and the bottom line for years to come.

Forbes this year ranked the Timbers as the fourth most valuable franchise in MLS—ahead of both the New York teams, Chicago, Toronto, and more. Owner Merritt Paulson paid $50 million to buy the Portland Beavers and Timbers and bring the Timbers to MLS. Forbes now values the franchise at $185 million.

Why the spike in value? Why are the Timbers on national television so often? Why does this team attract tourists and attention from around the country and around the world? It's not because of Diego Valeri. It has a whole lot to do with this extraordinary fan-base.

Former Timbers manager John Spencer remarked with a mixture of awe and glee after the home opener in 2011 that it felt like he was in Europe. That feeling hasn't changed. There are still incredible tifos, thousands on the season ticket waiting list, and season ticket renewal last year was at a staggering 99%. The National Women's Soccer League just broke their own rules to hold their final in Portland, while the Thorns lap the field in their league in attendance as well.

Portland is a haven for American soccer. Of course, the fans didn't—and couldn't have-done it alone. Paulson's effort and skill in renovating the stadium and expanding the Timbers brand have laid the groundwork for 50 years of financial success that should continue to grow on itself.

Paulson's foibles have been well documented, and it's fair to say that he and Porter have combined to ensure that there aren't many warm feelings about the Timbers around MLS. Remarkably for a man of his position and upbringing, Paulson's skin is still too thin. The owner's behavior towards his team's supporters on Twitter has rankled time after time, but the feeling that Paulson remains accessible to supporters is a heartening one and shouldn't be taken for granted.

Off the field—at least until this Uber deal—Paulson has been on the money. On the soccer side of things, he's clearly still learning. He obviously wants very badly to succeed, but that desire for success and desire to protect his employees has gotten him into trouble over the years.

Paulson's trademark loyalty—he cried when announcing the firing of Spencer, even though Spencer reportedly had little respect for Paulson—is being tested right now. The Thorns just fired their head coach Paul Riley, and if the Timbers miss the playoffs, Porter and GM Gavin Wilkinson will be under fire as well.

If Porter leaves, Wilkinson has to go too. The GM's power in Portland is Putin-esq—he runs the Timbers, Thorns, and Timbers 2, and figures to be around forever, regardless of results, because of his relationship with Paulson.

That fact more than anything else drives Portland soccer supporters batty. Wilkinson, who has been described as Paulson's soccer brain and something of a toady, is a good company man with a ton of power. Unsurprisingly, the results borne by that arrangement haven't been stellar. They've been middling at best, and, depending on your expectations for Paulson's teams, terrible at worst.

The Thorns have been shaken up, and the Timbers might be headed that direction as well. Year three for any coach is the time for assessment, and while Caleb Porter certainly brought the Timbers out of the dark ages in MLS, he's been unable to expand or double down his heady early days here.

The future is uncertain. It's not all doom and gloom, of course. Financially, the organization is beyond healthy. Long-term, the infrastructure for huge success is in place. The Timbers could still make the playoffs and put together a run that would render talk about Porter's job irrelevant.

At the end of the day though, one thing is for sure: The fans will still be there, just as they were at the beginning, propping up a franchise that wouldn't be anything special on its own.