Stats seem to indicate Steelers are better off without Le’Veon Bell

The Pittsburgh Steelers will officially be without Le’Veon Bell for the entirety of the 2018 season, and a fairly strong argument can be made that they are better off for it.

James Conner has emerged as one of the best running backs in the league in Bell’s absence this season, and the results speak for themselves. The Steelers haven’t just managed to put up plenty of points without Bell — their offense has been the best in franchise history through 10 weeks.

Without Le'Veon Bell, the 2018 Steelers offense has been statistically its best in franchise history. pic.twitter.com/2mz96fElqC

— NFLonCBS (@NFLonCBS) November 18, 2018

It’s hard to say if Pittsburgh would be more or less productive with Bell. Every season is different, so for all we know their offense would be even more productive with Bell in the mix. We’ll never really know, but it’s fair to question his importance to the team given the way things have worked out.

Because the Steelers have played so well with Conner as their featured running back, the latest report we heard about how team officials handled the Bell situation is a bit surprising.