Biggest Takeaways from Pittsburgh Steelers' 2014 Season

Now that the Pittsburgh Steelers have put a bow on the 2014 season, we can start to reflect a bit on what the season meant. After a crushing 30-17 loss to the Baltimore Ravens in the Wild Card Round of the playoffs, it is easy to just throw everyone under the bus.

However, this is the NFL, and that means so much can change in a year, and with the pieces in place, this team can remain a Super Bowl contender for many seasons to come.

But what are the big takeaways from the 2014 season? What are the things that you can point to, as positives and negatives from what was an exciting, albeit unsuccessful year? Read on and find out. 

So Goes Bell, So Goes the Offense

Don Wright/Associated Press

The league got the good fortune to see the birth of the next great NFL running back in 2014. Second-year running back Le’Veon Bell did things that no Steelers running back has ever done, and only a handful of NFL backs have ever accomplished.

In 16 games, Bell accumulated 1,361 yards rushing, to go along with 854 yards receiving (on 83 receptions). Bell’s 2,215 yards of offense ranked second in the NFL and set a single-season mark for the Steelers franchise.

Having watched the Steelers as a fan for more than 30 years, I can honestly say I’ve never seen a Pittsburgh running back with the type of special talent that Bell has. This team must continue to cultivate Bell’s skills and build around him. Part of that entails bringing in a viable backup running back to help ease some of the workload that Bell saw in 2014.

2014 was a landmark season for Bell, and it gives so much promise for his future as well as that of the Steelers offense.

The Secondary Needed a Makeover

Don Wright/Associated Press

Have you ever watched one of those extreme-home-makeover shows? My favorite part is when the crew comes in with sledgehammers and hand grenades to just lay waste to the old to make room for the new. That’s what needs to happen to the Steelers secondary.

2014 saw the Pittsburgh coaches keeping chairs warm for aging veterans and chose understudies with average skills. My biggest takeaway from the 2014 secondary is that of unfulfilled expectations. Cornerback Cortez Allen got a new contract, of which he earned almost none of.

Veteran cornerback Ike Taylor was supposed to have his farewell tour and go out with a bang. But it was more of a thud. And future Hall of Fame safety Troy Polamalu was in and out of the lineup all season, with very little depth behind him.

The Steelers did their best to stay competitive while trotting out undersized cornerbacks and undisciplined safeties and try and cover some of the best wide receivers in the league. The results were dismal, and, thus, this group needs to be blown up, and it needs to start over.

The Offensive Skill Players Are Set

Don Wright/Associated Press

One of the real high points of the 2014 season was how the offensive skill players came together. Franchise records crumbled under the feet of stars such as Bell, quarterback Ben Roethlisberger and wide receiver Antonio Brown. Here’s a quick look at some of the records that were either tied or set in 2014:

Roethlisberger

• Attempts: 608
• Completions: 408
• Passing Yards: 4,952
• Passing Touchdowns: 32
• Touchdowns in two-game stretch: 12
• 500-yard passing games: 2

Bell

• Yards from Scrimmage: 2,215
• Yards from Scrimmage without a fumble (NFL record): 2,215

Brown

• Receptions: 129
• Receiving Yards: 1,698

In addition, second-year wide receiver Markus Wheaton chipped in 53 receptions for 644 yards, and rookie Martavis Bryant contributed 26 receptions for an impressive 549 yards and eight touchdowns. Say what you will about needing youth at tight end and depth at running back, but this QB/RB/WR grouping is as strong as any in the league.

Still Missing Pieces at Linebacker

Gene Puskar/Associated Press

After spending back-to-back first-round picks on linebackers in the past two drafts, the expectation was that this group would be a strength of the defense. After all Jarvis Jones and Ryan Shazier were being added to a group that already had first-round inside linebacker Lawrence Timmons and second-round linebacker Jason Worilds in the mix.

That’s a lot of high draft picks for a group that only mustered 11.5 of the team’s 33 total sacks. If there is any area of the defense to point to that impacted the overall play, it is this one. The expectations had to be that this unit would be able to play well enough to make up for the perceived deficiencies in the secondary. When the linebackers fell short, there was nowhere for the secondary to go.

One positive takeaway from this group is that linebacker Sean Spence appears to be fully recovered from two years of injuries, and veteran outside linebacker Arthur Moats played well enough to warrant a new contract and a shot to earn a starting job in 2015.

Hope for the Role of Rookies

Gene Puskar/Associated Press

Looking at the 2014 NFL draft class for the Steelers, you could take the stance that this class was a home run, and you could just as easily say it was a swing and a miss. On one hand you have budding stars such as Bryant and defensive end Stephon Tuitt. Then you have defensive tackle Daniel McCullers and running back Dri Archer who had very incomplete rookie seasons.

Moving down the line, linebacker Ryan Shazier was injured for part of the season, but even when he played, he underwhelmed. Then there are both fifth-round picks, cornerback Shaquille Richardson and offensive tackle Wesley Johnson who aren’t even on the team.

It was clear that this team was better when this rookie class was incorporated into the game plan. McCullers and Tuitt have bright futures on the defensive line, Bryant is a star already and it is too soon to write off Shazier or Archer. This change in dynamic from head coach Mike Tomlin really bodes well for the 2015 group. Now the team just has to make better picks.

We Know Now, This Is Tomlin's Team

Gene J. Puskar/Associated Press

An ongoing theme during Tomlin’s tenure with the Steelers has been the narrative of the transition from a roster built by former head coach Bill Cowher and the move to a team fully (or almost fully) built by Tomlin. At this point, it is safe to say that the team we saw in 2014 was as close as we’ve seen to fulfilling that scenario during Tomlin’s eight seasons, and next year is going to be even closer.

By my count, there are seven players on the current 2014 roster left over from Cowher’s tenure. Roethlisberger, Taylor, tight end Heath Miller, defensive end Brett Keisel, linebacker James Harrison, Polamalu and long snapper Greg Warren are the only players left.

There’s a real possibility that Taylor, Polamalu, Keisel and Harrison will all be gone, leaving only three guys going into the offseason. The takeaway from this is that Tomlin has had mixed results in his roster project. On offense, Tomlin’s mark has been clear in transitioning to a more balanced offense with dynamic players and a system that rewards splash plays much more than anything Cowher did.

On defense, Tomlin still hasn’t found his way. Whether that is due to too much dependence on defensive coordinator Dick LeBeau or too little, the pieces on the other side of the football still aren’t quite where they need to be. We get a lot of lip service from the national media types about what “Steelers” football is, but the truth is, what we saw in 2014 is Steelers football, for better or worse.

Player statistics and data courtesy of Pro-Football-Reference.com unless specified.