Mike Tomlin and the Steelers look like winners with Le'Veon Bell's release by the Jets.
We know the New York Jets are losers but what the release of Le'Veon Bell further proves is that Mike Tomlin and the Pittsburgh Steelers are winners.
I remember when people said Tomlin underachieved for not winning with Bell and Antonio Brown. Well, he won a Super Bowl before either guy got to Pittsburgh, and he’s still winning now with them gone, and both currently without a team.
In fact, something I’ve pointed out often whenever Tomlin has come under scrutiny is that he has never had a losing season.
That goes for last year too when Mason Rudolph and someone called 'Duck' Hodges were his QBs. He also was able to successfully manage a locker room inhabited by the likes of Brown, Bell, and Ben Roethlisberger. Not actually as enviable a position as many made it seem.
Which just shows how much organizational stability is worth. I think the two things a sports fan can most hope for are trust in the team they root for, and a transcendent player, which in the NFL the latter usually means quarterback–The New York Jets have neither. And look where they are year after year, regardless of what pieces change.
Meanwhile, in Pittsburgh, the leader of the squad has remained the same (as is the case with the coaches the Steelers choose) and as a result, their worst year since Tomlin took over in 2007 is as good or better than 10 Jets seasons over the same span (if we're counting this one).
As the only thing that’s been terrible about the Pittsburgh Steelers is their towels.