Steelers Take Division Title, but Super Bowl Hopes Rest on Le'Veon Bell's Health

The Pittsburgh Steelers are in the big dance, but the "one that brought 'em" could be left sitting on the sidelines.

Running back Le'Veon Bell left the game with a knee injury and did not return to action.

Let's not discount what the Steelers did in Week 17 on the basis of the victory being possibly pyrrhic. By beating the Cincinnati Bengals 27-17 on Sunday Night Football, the Steelers took home an AFC North Championship and a No. 3 seed in the upcoming playoffs. They'll be hosting Baltimore on Saturday, January 3, in the Wild Card Round.

It was a typical AFC North battle, where the outcome seemed potentially in doubt until late in the game. But the Steelers prevailed, despite three turnovers and the aforementioned injury to Bell, who had accumulated only 20 rushing yards but 80 receiving yards before he left the game. 

The Steelers had a solid day from quarterback Ben Roethlisberger who was 24-of-38 passing for 317 yards, two touchdowns and an interception, but the story of this one outside of the steady Bell was wide receiver Antonio Brown who had 128 yards receiving and helped the Steelers close out the game in Bell's absence. 

This was an unlikely end to the Steelers' season. 

At one point, the Steelers were 3-3 and coming off having their butts royally handed to them by the Cleveland Browns and their unlikely quarterback Brian Hoyer. That led into a three-game home stand, however, which equated to three more wins, and all of a sudden the AFC North looked like the power conference in the NFL.

For much of the middle part of the year, the worst team in the AFC North would've led the NFC South. 

The Steelers finished the season on a four-game winning streak—including two wins against the Bengals—to finish 11-5. It wasn't necessarily "Steelers football" the way so many are accustomed to them winning games. It was Brown and Bell who did much of the heavy lifting, thanks to a defense that was ranked 19th in the league in scoring and in the bottom half of the league in takeaways. 

The same Steelers defense that once prided itself on being a Steel Curtain acted more like some nice shutters most of the season, going up and down almost on a whim. They finished the year with a zero give/take differential, which says a lot about both sides of the ball and their consistency. 

But, successful it was. 

Successful it can continue to be. 

That success, though, is atop the precarious sort of pedestal the Steelers have set up for it. Down at the base? Bell, who has been the straw that stirs the drink in Pittsburgh this season. Not only was he one of the league's leading rushers, he also added a considerable amount of versatility as both a pass-catcher and a pass-blocker.

Dr. David J. Chao expressed hope that Bell's knee injury is not serious:

He's also been, far-and-away, the biggest breakout player in 2014.

After dropping a considerable amount of weight this past offseason, Bell returned a slimmer, more agile back. Rather than the talented and deceptively straight-line fast plodder we saw at Michigan State, Bell is now a multifaceted back who can run around players just as easily as through them. He's a joy to watch run, and it's no surprise that the Pittsburgh offense has leaned on him so considerably, as Grantland's Bill Barnwell noted: 

This isn't just about the Steelers getting Bell back for next week, no. It's about the Steelers getting Bell back and finding a way to manage his workload better.

Since the team got rid of LeGarrette Blount, Bell has been given just about any carry there was to have in Pittsburgh. Though there may not be considerable talent behind him on the roster, the Steelers can't run a dinged-up Bell into the ground and expect that strategy to have any long-term success. 

If the Steelers are going to win anything more this season, they need Bell, and they need Bell at his best. 

Roethlisberger said of Bell after the game, via Scott Brown of ESPN.com, "I know if there is a chance he can be out there he's going to be. Because that's how he is."

The Steelers have quieted a lot of doubters and surprised many this year, but without Bell, the rest of the team won't have enough to extend this dance past the next song. 

Michael Schottey is an NFL National Lead Writer for Bleacher Report and an award-winning member of the Pro Football Writers of America. Find more of his stuff on his archive page and follow him on Twitter.