While this IS a Divisional Game, and therefore kinda scary for no other reason than that, I believe the Steelers are the better football team, with or without Bell. The gameplan was never going to be to give Bell the rock 30 times anyway. The Ravens front 7 are still pretty tough to run on. Bell is a threat in the passing game out of the backfield, so we might miss that a little. But I feel like they don't NEED or expect a 100 yard rusher in this game. If Harris, Archer, and Tate can grind out a combined 70 yards or so, I think that will be enough.
This game is going to come down to our Defense and O-Line play. The Ratbirds can't cover our receivers and they know it. ESPECIALLY without the threat of Bell, I fully expect them to put the game in their defensive front's hands. They'll pin their ears back and come after Ben early and very often. Their best chance will be to try to disrupt the pocket and force Ben into making mistakes and possibly create a turnover. Our O-line has made great strides as the season progressed, and has become one of the better units in the league. But the Ravens pass rush can be ferocious when clicking on all cylinders.
Honestly, I could see the Steelers missing Bell's blitz pick-up ability more than anything this game, something he's vastly underrated in. Hopefully they've been hitting Harris hard in practice this week with it. We'll see how it shakes out. These games always have the feel that they could go either way, but the Steelers are the better football team right now. But as they say...."Any given Sunday" or Saturday, as the case may be.