The Steelers need Le'Veon Bell to recover their season

The Steelers lost at home to the Ravens Sunday night and dropped to 1-2-1, and with the quarter of the season behind us, things look disastrous if they do not turn the page quickly. It will not be easy, but they have to swallow their pride, call Le & # 39; Veon Bell, tell him how much they value him, maybe toss a carrot beyond his weekly salary that would be due to him under the terms of the franchise label. and bring him to the building.

The Steelers tried to trade Bell in the league, but apparently they did not find any serious bidders. There's an idea out there that the Steelers can not offer him more than the $ 855K that he earns per week under the franchise label, but as Mike Florio pointed out in September, this Is not true. They could pay him more money this year. I also wonder if maybe they could work with him where they buy an insurance policy offering him protection against loss of value should he be injured in his contract year as the Earl Thomas says Sunday.

Frankly, the Steelers need Bell in their backfield. James Conner is a good player, but he is a complementary piece and not an elite feature. It does not slip like Bell. Against Baltimore, Conner had 9 runs for 19 yards and 3 receptions for 25 yards. In two games against the Ravens last season, Bell had 48 runs for 192 yards, 13 assists for 119 yards and five touchdowns in total.

The Pittsburgh season is obviously not dead yet, but the situation is deteriorating rapidly. The Bengals and Ravens are both 3-1. Before they leave in two weeks, the Steelers will face the Falcons at home and the Bengals on the road. Let's say that they split these games, they were 2-3-1, and they had to finish the season 8-2 to get 10 wins. Something less than this is very difficult to enter the playoffs. You could possibly arrive at 9-6-1 but you need a lot of help outside of your own destiny.

If the Steelers fact to get something back for Bell, it certainly would not be one or more players that could have as much impact as it could now. They should make the call and find a way to clear the air and put it in the lap before their season moves away.