In Week 4, the Bears faced a significant turning point in the Matt Eberflus and Ryan Poles era, even though no one wanted to talk about it.

Some social media guys and other critics mentioned it, but when the team was 1-2 this year and playing the Rams this weekend, things looked pretty bleak. However, they came away with a victory over an injury-plagued team and then went on a winning streak.

We’re sort of back to square one. Except this week against the Arizona Cardinals, the situation is much more critical and they are playing on the road, not at Soldier Field.

Beating Arizona in a road game would be huge as the Cardinals aren’t a bad team at 4-4 and are coming off a win of their own against the Miami Dolphins.

Yes, the game is important for their offense because they need to see better production from Shane Waldron in the first quarter, or even the first half. They need less stupid play calls at the goal line.

The defense must show it can maintain its lead after Sunday’s Hail Mary.

But this one is huge for the future of the franchise, not just the win-loss record of this year’s team.

We are in the middle of the Bears’ third season in this great rebuild under George McCaskey’s hand-picked leadership. Today they are losing to teams who started rebuilding their projects after them. Some of these rebuilding projects were as big, if not bigger, than the one undertaken by the Bears.

The Washington Commanders just beat the Bears with only a handful of starters from last year, the Bears’ head coach being rejected and the offensive coordinator the Bears rejected so they could coach Eberflus and Shane Waldron .

ADMISSION AND APOLOGY FROM TYRIQUE STEVENSON TO HIS TEAMMATES

HOW BEARS REUNITE AFTER HARDEST LOSS SINCE DOUBLE-DOINK

WHAT MATT EBERFLUS SAID TO THE SECOND GUESSERS AFTER LOSS OF THE HAIL MARY

TYRIQUE STEVENSON COULD FACE A TOUGH WEEK AS DEFENSE REORGANIZES

They have just started rebuilding the Commanders and not only have new players, new coaches but also new owners. They rebuilt and took over their division in just one offseason. They beat the Bears one season after losing to them 40-20.

If the Bears lose to the Cardinals, they will lose to a team that began its rebuild last season under coach Jonathan Gannon and lost last year to the Bears 27-16.

The Cardinals, in the second year of their rebuild, are now tied for first place in the NFC West and have just beaten Jim Harbaugh and Miami’s Chargers in successive weeks. Beating the Cardinals might not be like winning against the Chiefs, Bills or Eagles, but at least it would be a win against a competent team.

The Bears finally got their first three-game winning streak under Eberflus and it ended with the Hail Mary pass. In it, they didn’t beat any team that anyone could call a playoff contender. The Rams could possibly be, but the Rams team the Bears played was missing its two best offensive weapons.

The truth is the Bears haven’t beaten a good team except Detroit last season at Soldier Field. They haven’t conquered a good or respectable team on the road. They are 3-17 on the road under Eberflus.

On Sunday, they lost to a quarterback they could have drafted but didn’t. They lost in week 2 to another, CJ Stroud. They even lost on the road to Anthony Richardson and no one mistakes him for the best quarterback talent this season.

Rebuilding teams beat good teams everywhere. Sean Payton took over the Broncos last year and they have a better record than the Bears. The Seahawks have a new coach and are tied for first place in the NFC West. Meanwhile, the Bears are still last in the NFC North.

The Bears are supposed to be rebuilt now. You can’t take the North and not give it back, as the Poles said, if you are 3-17 on the road under your head coach, even if they have won nine in a row as a local team.

Since Sunday’s disaster, social media and talk shows have gone wild calling for Eberflus’s job, some for the Poles’ job and, as usual, for the McCaskeys to sell the team.

This is all exaggerated for a single loss, but study the trend. Watch how Eberflus teams have always had difficulty retaining leads even before the Bears blew big leads under him against the Broncos, Lions and Browns. It happened with the Colts.

There always seems to be questions about strategy or operations with the team under pressure, like with yesterday’s questions about the last 20 seconds.

None of this seems conducive to building a division winner, any more than draft quarterbacks becoming instant NFL stars while yours struggle to score in the first quarter.

If the Bears think the pressure was on after Sunday’s loss, wait until you see what it will be like if they go 4-4 in their first home game since early October when they take on the New England Patriots on November 10. just before starting divisional play against the biggest thorn in all of their backs, the Packers.

Twitter: BearsOnSI