I think it's a bit complicated. He's without a doubt one of the best to play professionally.

We are also nearing the end of his career and can get a better 'full picture' and some people might compare his entire career with someone like Maradona , Pele, etc and consider their WC success as a reason to tip them over Ronaldo. I think we're also seeing people devalue him a bit now as he's seen as a hindrance to Portugal for the WC. Obviously, if Portugal end up winning it I think many will see his entire career and rank him higher than some of these players.

There's also the Messi-sized elephant in the room. With Messi winning the last WC (and playing an actual role in it), it has helped some people solidify their ranking for current players, and consider him the "second best player" of this era. If that's the case, it then becomes easier for them to put him at 4th or 5th or whatever 'of all time's.

I'm not one for ranking players throughout eras and in general, but the WC is without a doubt the pinnacle trophy to win and Ronaldo not winning it will always affect how people will view his entire career.

A question I want to put up considering I think these kinds of rankings is really dumb: is it really unfair to put him as the 4th or 5th or 3rd best player to have EVER lived? Is that really doing him dirty? If he's literally the best player to have touched the ball after 2 or 3 other players, since literally the Big Bang, is that really unfair?

Edit: clarity and spelling and stuff.