Steelers Report Card, Bell’s Workload, Tomlin Hot Seat

The Pittsburgh Steelers will enter the final quarter of the 2014 NFL season with each game dubbed a ‘must win’ to keep pace in the AFC North. This week the team will travel to Cincinnati to take on the Bengals in the first of their 2-game series against their divisional foes. While they’re putting their last game behind them and moving on to the Bengals we’ll be busy looking for mentions of your Black & Gold so we’ve got you covered. Here’s your Steelers Morning Huddle for Friday, Dec. 5^th.

Steelers get C+

Alex Marvez of Fox Sports handed out report cards to every NFL team heading into the final quarter of the season. For the Pittsburgh Steelers, Marvez handed out a C+ indicating positivity for the fact that at 7-5 they are still in the playoff hunt, but with the losses to teams like Tampa Bay and the New York Jets on their record, they really could be in a lot better of a position than they are in right now. Still, with Ben Roethlisberger, Le’Veon Bell, and Antonio Brown, you’d have to give this team a fighting chance down the stretch, don’t you?

Bell’s not concerned

While many are concerned about Le’Veon Bell’s workload for the Steelers down the stretch of the remainder of the season, he certainly isn’t, according to Mike Prisuta.

"“If anything, they can give me more. I’m able to handle whatever they can give me. I had 50 touches in college. The Boise State game (in 2012) I had 44 carries (for 217 yards) and six catches (for 55 more yards), first game of the season. ‘Coach T’ loved that about me. He knew I could carry the load if asked.” – Le’Veon Bell"

Tomlin’s hot seat

The MMQB’s Peter King opened up his mail bag this week and the first question asked, one he admits he gets multiple times a week from Steelers fans, is just when is Mike Tomlin going to be on the hot seat? Here’s the question from the site:

"“Is Mike Tomlin on the hot seat? If not, why not? It seems to me that he was handed a great team, and lived off the remnants of Bill Cowher’s accomplishments for a long time, but has failed as a leader over the past 3-plus seasons. The AFC North is 11-2-1 against the NFC South this season with the only losses coming from the Steelers. When will the Rooneys and this once great franchise have enough?”"

King’s response was what any reasonable-minded person who has knowledge of the Steelers’ organizational history would say. The Rooneys value loyalty over just about anything. There were those who thought the team held onto Chuck Noll too long, there were those who cried for Cowher’s termination during his tenure and he was given a contract extension following consecutive below .500 seasons. That’s just the way the Steelers are. While there’s never a reason to make a change or not make a change just for the sake of “that’s the way it’s always done” it always strikes me as an odd debate that Steelers fans are so quick to value the Rooney’s’ history and forget it all in the same instance.

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