Bell will have to miss the year after failing to sign tender

Le’Veon Bell won’t play in 2018. The star running back declined to sign his one-year $14.4 million franchise tender with the Pittsburgh Steelers by Tuesday’s deadline, making him ineligible to suit up for the AFC Northleading Steelers or anyone else this season.

The unusual decision to sit out won’t prevent Bell from becoming a free agent next spring, when the three-time Pro Bowler hopes to cash in with a contract that would make him the highest-paid back in the NFL.

Steelers coach Mike Tomlin seemed resigned to Bell’s decision shortly before the 3 p.m. deadline, saying simply “so be it” when asked about the possibility of Bell never returning to the team that drafted him in the second round in 2013 and helped mold him into one of the league’s top players.

“Even when we don’t understand it, we’re sensitive to it, so we’re not shocked when things happen from a business standpoint, no,” Tomlin said.

The Steelers, who have won five straight to sprint to the top of the division heading into a visit to Jacksonville on Sunday, will turn to second-year back James Conner and reserves Stevan Ridley and rookie Jaylen Samuels to help shoulder the load with Bell out of the picture.

Game moved: The NFL has moved the Los Angeles Rams’ Monday night showdown with the Kansas City Chiefs from Mexico City to Los Angeles due to the poor condition of the field at Azteca Stadium.

The league said it determined that the recently re-sodded field at Mexico City’s historic stadium “does not meet NFL standards for playability and consistency, and will not meet those standards by next Monday.”