Pittsburgh Steelers: 2018 as the last season for the ‘Killer B’s’

The Pittsburgh Steelers have boasted one of the more potent offenses in the NFL over the last few seasons. 2018 will be the end of the “Killer B’s.” How will they be remembered?

The Steel Curtain. The Blitzburgh defense. And now the Killer B’s. The Pittsburgh Steelers have had loads of success in their history, especially since the 1970’s. There have been different players, units, and groups that have contributed to that success. The most successful being the Steel Curtain defense in the 1970’s, but that goes without saying.

The Killer B’s are the latest group to take Steelers Nation, and the league, by storm. Ben Roethlisberger is a future Hall of Fame quarterback. Antonio Brown is considered by most to be the best receiver in the league. Le’Veon Bell is also in the discussion as the best running back in football. As a franchise that’s always been defensively-dominant, it’s interesting for this era in Steelers history to be all about the offense.

With Le’Veon Bell on his way out after 2018 (and who knows what this last year has in store), this group will be no longer. It’s been a special time for the Steelers, seeing the offense be one of elite groups in the NFL. But what kind of legacy have they left? Has it just been great to see highlight play after highlight play? Has it been good enough that they’ve constantly helped many fantasy teams win their league championship? Or is it a failure because they’ve failed to capture a Super Bowl together?

Not many teams can boast that they’ve had one of the best at quarterback, running back, and wide receiver. You think about great offenses like The Greatest Show on Turf in St. Louis or the 90’s Dallas Cowboys that won three Super Bowls in four years with Troy Aikman, Emmitt Smith, and Michael Irvin. Those teams won Super Bowls while this team hasn’t. Does that make them a failure?

It’s hard to take sides, and to call what this offense has done over the last few seasons a failure is a bit hard to do. But when you think about what the Steelers’ goal is every year, they’ve fallen short of that goal. Failure is a strong word, but a word that isn’t is underachieve.

With the talent this group has, to not have at least made a Super Bowl appearance is underachieving. Big Ben is a future Hall-of-Famer. Antonio Brown is well on his way as well if he continues to put up the numbers he has so far in his career. Bell, at the absolute minimum, has been a top-3 running back in football for most of his career.

Has the defense been sub-par during this time? Yes they have. There’s no way around that. The defense hasn’t been able to elevate to even what the defense of the 2000’s did. And in a league that’s very offensively driven, defense still matters. Teams with elite defenses still win Super Bowls (i.e. Seattle and Denver).

Injuries have been a factor as well. Le’Veon Bell missed the Wildcard game against Baltimore in 2014. Antonio Brown and Bell missed the Divisional round in Denver in 2015. Bell got hurt in the AFC Championship in New England in 2016. And the one year they were all healthy, the defense couldn’t stop Blake Bortles, Leonard Fournette, and the Jaguars in last year’s Divisional round.

So here’s 2018; the last year of the “Killer B’s.” They have a favorable schedule, despite it being a first place schedule. The defense, while still has several holes, is playing with a chip on its shoulder. If they stay healthy, this offensive group has the potential to carry this team.

The AFC is never been more vulnerable for the Steelers to take advantage of. New England, while still a threat, isn’t the same team and has way more distractions than there has ever been in Foxboro. The Jaguars may not even make the playoffs again because two teams in their division are getting their starting quarterbacks back.

It’s one last hoorah for this group. They have everything to play for. A Super Bowl win would elevate this offense to being considered one of the greatest of all time. It’s time to take it and capture it.