Could Bell be nearing sweetness?
CINCINNATI – Steelers running back Le’Veon Bell is too young to have seen Walter Payton in action.
The 22-year-old was born in 1992, six years after Payton finished his Hall-of-Fame career with the Chicago Bears.
But he’s seen highlights.
Against the Cincinnati Bengals Sunday, Bell joined Payton as the only running backs in NFL history with more than 200 total yards in three consecutive games.
“Wow! That’s saying a lot right there. That speaks for itself,” said Steelers center Maurkice Pouncey.
Bell had 185 rushing yards and added 50 receiving in the Steelers’ 42-21 victory at Paul Brown Stadium, giving him 711 (484 rushing, 227 receiving) total yards in the last three games.
The Steelers needed that kind of performance to get a season-saving victory.
By beating the Bengals (8-4-1), whose lead in the AFC North has been cut to a half-game over the Steelers and Baltimore Ravens – both are 8-5 – the Steelers have kept themselves in position to win the division.
And winning a division title remains the best way to earn a spot in the postseason.
Had the Steelers lost Sunday, they would not have been eliminated, at least not technically. But their road to the postseason would have been incredibly difficult and highly unlikely.
Now the Steelers face what is essentially a three-game season. If they go unbeaten, they’ll be division champions.
“If we’d have won all the games before, we wouldn’t even be talking about how big this one was,” said Pouncey.
True, but this team has stubbed its collective toe often enough to have people wondering exactly how good it really is.
Are these Steelers the ones who had a three-game winning streak in October against Houston, Indianapolis and Baltimore – three playoff contenders? Or are they the team that came into this game having sandwiched a win over Tennessee between losses to the New York Jets and New Orleans?
The answer is likely somewhere in between.
With Bell performing as he has the past three weeks – and really, all season – Pittsburgh is a very dangerous team.
“He is a special talent,” said Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger. “I’ve said for many, many weeks that he’s one of the best all-around backs in the game. I think every week he continues to prove that.”
A year ago, many were saying the Steelers made a mistake making Bell the second running back selected in the draft, after Cincinnati’s Giovanni Bernard, who had 36 total yards Sunday on six carries and three receptions.
Those people pointed at Green Bay’s Eddie Lacy, who won the NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year award, as the player the Steelers should have taken.
Today, the comparison isn’t even close. Lacy is a good player. Bell, who has 3,183 total yards in his first two seasons, is a great one.
Not that he’ll say that himself.
“I’m just trying to do whatever my team needs me to do,” said Bell. “I’m a competitor. I just want to do whatever it takes for us to win the game. We can get to where we want to be at the end of the day; that’s what matters to me.”
He is, however, humbled by the joining the ranks of Payton. When your name is linked with Payton, you know you’ve accomplished something special.
“It’s an honor to be mentioned with a guy like Walter Payton,” said Bell.
And the way the Steelers have featured Bell in their offense the past three games – he’s gotten the ball more than 30 times in each- does anyone doubt he can do it again?
Bell doesn’t turn 23 until February. He is young and still learning the game. And yet he’s still making 200-yard games look easy.
“That’s pretty good company, huh?” said Steelers guard David DeCastro, who paved the way for many of Bell’s big runs in this game. “That’s a cool stat. We’ve got three more left. Hopefully, he can get another one.”
Or maybe three.
F. Dale Lolley can be reached at dlolley@observer-reporter.com.