Many sports and sports teams measure their respective histories in era’s. For the Pens there is simply the Lemieux era and the Crosby era that come to mind. The Pirates had the “We are Fam-a-lee” era. The Steelers previously had the era of the Steel Curtain. All of these eras have something in common, they all have come or will come to an end eventually. Such is that of the Pittsburgh Steelers Killer B’s era.
Ben Roethlisberger, Antonio Brown, and Le’Veon Bell made up an era of Steelers football that officially came to an end this week with word that the latter two will not be suiting up in the black and gold next season. However, the ending of this era was more abrupt and violent than anyone could have imagined.
At the start of the 2018-19 NFL season Steelers fans believed that there were plenty of years left to get a Super Bowl ring with Bell and Brown. Bell was expected to holdout through the preseason, but return week one against Cleveland, as he did the year prior. Antonio Brown was just finishing up a press tour for his cover image on Madden 19. No one saw this as the final year of the Killer B era.
Fast forward to today and the story reads very differently. Fans have mostly moved on from Bell and Brown in favor of Conner and Smith-Schuster. The former Killer B’s have been pitted as traitors by most of the Steeler faithful. This week started with the meeting between Steelers President Art Rooney ll and the estranged wide receiver. The news coming out of that meeting was that the two cleared the air and “agreed to move on”. Thus, signaling the eventual trade and departure of Brown from the Steelers. The drama continued as yesterday, Steelers GM Kevin Colbert announced that the team will not be using the transition tag on running back Le’Veon Bell. This sparked a response from Bell on Twitter…
Just like that an era of Steelers football comes to an end, albeit one that wasn’t as successful as it could have been. In the 6 seasons since Bell was drafted in the 2ndround by the Steelers, the team made the playoffs 4 times and won the division 3 times, but were only able to produce a 3-4 record in the NFL postseason. A team that boasted one of the most high-powered offenses in recent history was hindered by subpar defense, as well as untimely disappearances of offensive production. The almost annual absence of Bell due to injuries or suspensions, also led to disappointing results.
Where do they Steelers go from here? They still have one of the best offensive lines football, Hall of Fame Quarterback Ben Roethlisberger threw for over 5,000 yards last season, the Steelers defense is improving slowly, and the still have a few electric skilled players on the offense. Juju Smith-Schuster is coming off of a 111 catch, 1,400 plus yards season. Many argue that his success it tied to Brown’s presence on the other side, but Smith-Schuster showed prowess in busting double coverages throughout the season as well. Undoubtedly the best thing for the future of the Steelers was the holdout of running back Le’Veon Bell last season.
In his absence came the emergence of James Conner, and later in the season Jaylen Samuels. Conner, who collected his first pro bowl selection, finished the season with 973 yards and 12 touchdowns in just 13 games. He also caught 55 passes for 497 receiving yards. If the 2018-19 season did anything for the Steelers, it provided them with the future of their back field. In a league where very few teams have a dominant 1 back, the Steelers find themselves in possession of a solid 2-man backfield.
Don’t get me wrong I understand that there is no universe in which the Steelers offense loses Brown and doesn’t regress. However, when it comes to losing a pair of world class talents and moving on, the Steelers are in as good of a place as they could be. The next steps for the Steelers will be the trading of Antonio Brown and the NFL draft, two opportunities to retool their lineup to contend for another Lombardi Trophy. Undoubtedly you can look for Colbert and the rest of the Steelers brass to search for improvements on the defensive side of the ball, as well as fine tuning the remainder of their receiving corps now led by Smith-Schuster.
The era of the Killer B’s provided Steeler Nation with dozens of excited and electrifying games, dazzling touchdowns, and ridiculous plays. Sadly, the only thing it didn’t deliver was playoff success, failing to qualify for the Super Bowl in all six of its seasons. With the right retooling and an attitude adjustment to the locker room the new era of Steelers football will find more success than the last one.
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