Steelers can make playoffs without Le’Veon Bell

by | Nov 3, 2015

This might seem like a cursed season for the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Le’Veon Bell is suspended for the first two games, then when he returns Ben Roethlisberger goes down with a knee injury.

Roethlisberger comes back from his knee injury, and Bell is knocked out for the season with his own knee injury.

Losing Bell is a debilitating blow, but the Steelers (4-4) still can make the playoffs.

Since Bell was drafted in 2013, the Steelers are 1-5 without him. That one win gets cheapened by the week because it came in Week 2 at home against the dysfunctional 49ers.

But the Steelers are better prepared for Bell’s absence than they were last season. They were left without a legitimate backup in 2014 when they released LeGarrette Blount after he infamously walked to the locker room before the end of a win at Tennessee.

When Bell was injured in the regular-season finale, the Steelers went into their wild-card game with Ben Tate as their starting running back and lost 30-17 to the Ravens.

So the Steelers signed DeAngelo Williams during the offseason. In the first two games, he ran for 204 yards on 41 carries, exactly five yards per carry, and scored three touchdowns. Williams ran for 127 yards in the season-opening 28-21 loss to the Patriots. Even without Bell, that was a winnable game for the Steelers. But they neglected to cover Rob Gronkowski on more than one occasion, missed two field goals and made a mockery of clock management.

After Bell’s injury in Sunday’s 16-10 loss to the Bengals, Williams ran for 71 yards on nine carries, an average of nearly eight yards per carry. Williams is no Bell, but he’s a significant upgrade over the days of Isaac Redman and Jonathan Dwyer and he can provide the Steelers with enough of a ground game to keep opponents from blanketing Antonio Brown and Martavis Bryant.

Roethlisberger, Bell, Brown, Bryant and an offensive line that returned intact from last year were supposed to be the engine of a high-powered offense that carried a generous defense this year.

However, center Maurkice Pouncey was injured in the preseason and might not play at all this year. Left tackle Kelvin Beachum is out for the season with a torn ACL and now Bell is done.

While injuries might prevent the offense from reaching the astronomical heights everyone envisioned, the defense has been better than advertised.

The Steelers are allowing 366.5 yards per game, 20th in the NFL, but they’re fifth with 18.4 points allowed per game. They’re tied for eighth in the league with 3.8 yards allowed per carry and are fifth with 22 sacks.

This is a bend-but-don’t-break defense that intercepted Andy Dalton twice in the fourth quarter Sunday. Unfortunately for the Steelers, Roethlisberger might as well have told Dalton “Anything you can do I can do worse” and threw two interceptions of his own in the fourth quarter.

Sunday’s loss puts the Bengals in the driver’s seat to win the AFC North. The wild card is the most realistic way into the playoffs for the Steelers, and a lot hinges on Sunday’s home game against the Raiders.

The Raiders (4-3) are on the rise and have thrust themselves into playoff contention. They’re tied with the Jets for the final AFC wild-card spot. A win Sunday would move the Steelers ahead of the Raiders and give them an important tiebreaker.

Then in Week 10, the Steelers host the Browns. They shouldn’t need Bell to win that game.

The Steelers’ schedule is brutal after their Week 11 bye. Four of their final six games are on the road, including a game at Seattle in Week 12.

If Roethlisberger can shake off the rust that was apparent after his four-game absence and the defense continues to stop the run and get after the quarterback, the Steelers still have the talent to make the playoffs.