Mark Madden's Hot Take: The Steelers are better without Le'Veon Bell and Antonio Brown

As Pittsburgh celebrates the success of the 11-0 Steelers, take a moment to bask in the abject failure of Le’Veon Bell and Antonio Brown, aka the Toxic Twins.

These two Einsteins finagled their way out of Pittsburgh, mistakenly thinking pastures would be greener and more glorious elsewhere.

Bell went to New York. He didn’t make it there. After this season, Bell will have trouble making it anywhere. Bell is a backup in Kansas City. He has a meager 28 carries in five games. If Bell ultimately gets a Super Bowl ring, remember: The Chiefs’ ball boy will, too.

Brown, meanwhile, ricocheted from Oakland to New England to Tampa Bay. In four games with the Buccaneers, Brown is small potatoes: 20 catches for 168 yards and no touchdowns. Tom Brady must not wear his hearing aid in the huddle. Tampa Bay is 1-3 since Brown arrived.

You reap what you sow. The Toxic Twins disrupted the Steelers to gratify their own egos and made it impossible to win.

Bell quit on the Steelers when they lost to New England in the AFC championship game that followed the 2016 season, protecting his impending free agency by way of refusing to re-enter the game after suffering a minor injury. (Bell ultimately got the franchise tag. He sat out the entire 2018 season after getting franchised a second time.)

Brown didn’t show up for Week 17 in 2018, his final campaign with the Steelers.

Ex-players in the national football media got conned into blaming Ben Roethlisberger for what happened. But now the truth is as plain as 11-0. The Steelers are better without Bell and Brown.

Bell is making only $705,882 with Kansas City. Brown is making only $1 million with Tampa Bay. Chump change for a couple of chumps.

Both are free agents at year’s end. Each will be lucky to play football in 2021. If they do, they won’t get paid much. Bell is 28, Brown 32. They’re closer to the end than to the middle.

Sure, the Toxic Twins already made a lot. They’ve already spent a lot, too. It’s easy to imagine them being bankruptcy cases. They’re already morally and mentally bankrupt.

Maybe JuJu Smith-Schuster can buy them a sandwich someday — for the benefit of TikTok, of course.