Keep RB for at least a year

really looking forward to Round 2 against the New England Patriots in the AFC championship. For all of it, he should have been penalized 15 yards for unnecessary stupidity.

Bellis an interminable tweeter.He can be found day andnight on Twitter, promotinghis burgeoning rap careerwhen he isn’t insulting the Steelers’ next opponent.But this particular tweetwent too far. I’ve alwaysbelieved the pursuit of a championship should be enoughmotivation for any professional athlete and that outsidenoise of any kind doesn’tmatter, but too many proshave told me I’m dead wrong.They insist every bit ofmotivation helps. If you believedthe Jaguars after their 45-42win at Heinz Field, they foundBell’s tweet incendiary andtook it personally. They wereeager to say Bell’s idiocyand similar idiocy by Tomlinand Mike Mitchell weresignificant reasons they survivedand advanced to playthe Patriots this afternoonin that AFC title game. OK, I get it, finally.

Asfor Bell missing most of the walk-through, that’s despicable. It’s also a horrible reflectionof Tomlin. Where isthe team discipline?

But it’s Bell’s pay-me-orelse rant that I find especially fascinating.

Bell is the NFL’s best allpurpose running back, just as adept at catching the ball, as he proved against the Jaguars with his amazing 19yard touchdown grab, as he is toting it. He earned every penny of his franchise tagmandated $12.1 million this season, touching the pig on 38 percent of the Steelers’ offensive plays, including the playoff game, and producing 32 percent of their offensive yards. He proved he has matured in one major way by not getting suspended for the third year in a row because of a marijuana issue and proved he can start and finish a season healthy for the first time. He is the Steelers’ fourth-best back of my lifetime and is closing fast on the top three, Franco Harris, Jerome Bettis and John Henry Johnson, all of whom are in the Hall of Fame. But Bell has one major flaw. He isn’t very smart at times. He’s downright dumb if he thinks his threat to sit out or retire will get him a better contract.

No one in his or her right mind believes Bell will walk away from the $14.5 million the Steelers would have to pay him next season under the franchise tag. He might skip training camp and the exhibition season, as he did this season, but he’s not going to miss those $906,250per-game paychecks. I know nothing about rap, but I’m guessing Bell isn’t as good at it as he is at playing football.

I do know something about how the Steelers do business. They will try to do a long-term contract with Bell, as they did before this season, but they won’t give in his to demands and pay him more than they think he’s worth. If they do end up using the franchise tag on him again, as I still believe is prudent, they will let him sit out or retire if he must and not think twice about it. They have never lost a staredown with a player.

I suppose it isn’t a given that the Steelers will keep Bell because of the salary cap and his still-frequent episodes of immaturity. They could let him leave as a free agent and use that $14.5 million to fill other needs. They have a glaring problem at inside linebacker; did you see how poorly the defense played without Ryan Shazier? They also could draft a running back and a safety to replace Mitchell.

But it just doesn’t seem like good business to me to allow a prized asset such as Bell to walk away for nothing. That’s especially true with this Steelers team, this Steelers offense. Ben Roethlisberger is coming back for a 15th NFL season and is playing as well as ever. Antonio Brown, JuJu Smith-Schuster and Martavis Bryant, now that he seems to be of right mind, are a terrific receiving group. The offensive line, which has Pro Bowlers David DeCastro, Maurkice Pouncey and Al Villanueva, remains signed and intact.

The Steelers strategy with Bell should be obvious.

I’ll save Kevin Colbert and Tomlina telephone call, just incase: Do what you have to doto keep Bell for at least one more season and take another crack at the Super Bowl.

I also have some advice for Bell: Grow up and stop acting so infantile. Keep playing football, even if it means lowering yourself to make a mere $14.5 million. And one more thing … Stop tweeting. Please.