Kovacevic: Has Bell tolled for Steelers already?

Le'Veon Bell's expression twisted, contorted and, eventually, just crumbled.

Yeah, just like the knee.

And maybe, depending on the perspective, just like the Steelers' 2015 season.

To see the franchise running back seated on a gurney by the sideline, grimacing with each touch from tending athletic trainer John Norwig, it just felt ... wrong. Like it shouldn't have been happening. It couldn't have been happening. Not on this sunny-side-up autumnal Sunday at Heinz Field that was custom-crafted for football. Not with all four of the home team's offensive stars finally sharing a huddle. Not with Ben Roethlisberger having ripped apart the Bengals on an opening drive unlike anything witnessed in the month he was out.

This was the day it would all take off. Or at least turn around.

Until it wasn't ...



"It was just ... it shook you, you know?" Marcus Gilbert recalled thinking upon seeing Bell rolling and writhing along the sideline clutching that knee. That same knee. That same sight. That same demoralizing, debilitating feeling that followed.

And yeah, that same opponent doing the damage.

With that same opponent prevailing this time: Bengals 16, Steelers 10.



"You're feeling pretty good about everything, there's a big run, you're celebrating, and then you see that," Ramon Foster echoed from the stall next to Gilbert's. "I was ... I was ticked, man. It's like, if it isn't one thing, it's another."

It's another, and yet it's like no other: Word emerged from the Steelers' camp late Sunday night that Bell almost surely will miss the rest of the season with a badly torn MCL as well as damage to the PCL in his right knee. More tests are expected to be administered Monday, but the overwhelming sentiment was that he'll need reconstructive surgery and, thus, will be placed on injured reserve.

Losing Roethlisberger was supposed to be these Steelers' major mountain to scale. They'd been tasked with surviving a month of first Michael Vick, then Landry Jones, and they somehow did. They split those four games and emerged 4-3, still poised to take down Cincinnati -- again, like last year -- and take away another AFC North title.

Now, of course, that won't happen. Not even if the Bengals out-Bengal themselves, as they attempted to do repeatedly on this day, but were thwarted by the Steelers doing their own bungling down the stretch. Cincinnati is now 7-0, and still ahead on the schedule are two with the Browns, one each with the Ravens, 49ers and Texans.

So all that's realistic for the Steelers, now .500 at the halfway pole, is the wild card.

But you know what?

That would be plenty.

'WE JUST HAVE TO FINISH'

Maybe the most stomach-churning aspect of this Sunday for the Steelers was that the loss of Bell, at least in the context of the afternoon, had been all but nullified.

The offense immediately regained at least a little of its rhythm, with DeAngelo Williams breaking off a 55-yard sprint, Heath Miller banging bodies backward, and a third-quarter field goal bringing a 10-6 lead. It wasn't ideal, but neither did it feel hopeless.

The defense picked off two Andy Dalton passes in the fourth quarter, one each by Mike Mitchell and Antwon Blake, the latter returned half the length of the field. Jarvis Jones fought through a chokehold by Cincinnati's noted left tackle Andrew Whitworth to sack Dalton. Ryan Shazier was regaining his form. Lawrence Timmons was everywhere.

Even the special teams pitched in with Cam Heyward's blocked field goal:



The energy was back in a big way, including the 64,750 on hand. The place had become a blur of Towels, and the din was at playoff decibels. Even 'Renegade' worked, and that hasn't been working in years.

But the Steelers blew it.

Blaming Todd Haley is becoming as much a Pittsburgh pastime as tunnel traffic, but it's richly merited on this day, so let's start with the lowest-hanging fruit.

The opening drive, again, was magnificent. It spanned a dozen plays, 80 yards and a 1-yard strike from Roethlisberger to a wide-open Antonio Brown. And yet, the next 11 drives culminated in four straight punts, a Roethlisberger interception, a field goal, two more punts, two more interceptions and a pass that sailed out of the end zone from the Cincinnati 16 to end the game.

Parse away at how each of those happened, but I'll point mostly to the section on the scoresheet for pass receiving: Brown had six catches total on 11 targets. In the second half, he had two catches on seven targets. Martavis Bryant caught four passes for 49 yards. Markus Wheaton had one catch on two targets, Darrius Heyward-Bey none on two targets.

Even being unbeaten, the Bengals ranked in the NFL's bottom 10 for pass defense. Which, for some reason, prompted the coordinator to, you know, try something else.

Haley did go back to Miller in a big way, given his 10 catches for 105 yards, and that's wonderful. But if Roethlisberger is the engine of this offense, the wide receivers are the wings. And they got lopped off inexplicably, even when Bell's absence should have raised their worth as playmakers. Or, even more curiously, the passes the Steelers did attempt were well downfield rather than the mid-range the Bengals were freely conceding.

This is a repeat of a repeat, but let the playmakers make plays in space.

Cincinnati offered plenty of space. The Steelers opted to stroll right into traps.