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5 Burning Questions facing the 0-4 Steelers at the bye week

Are the Steelers the NFL's worst? Can Ben play non-play ground ball? Did God just drop a "starter capable" NFL left tackle into Tomlin and Colbert's lap? Answer these and other Burning Questions as the Steelers head into the bye week.

By Hombre de Acero
Jamie McDonald

The Steelers first regular season foray into international play left them at 0-4 and looking like a team learning to lose. Fortunately, the Steelers cannot lose this weekend, but before Steelers Nation can get to the bye week it first must answer 5 Burning Questions in the wake of the Vikings loss.

1. "The Steelers are the worst team in the NFL" this is from a figure no less authoritative than Ben Roethlisberger himself. Agree or disagree?

2. Speaking of Roethlisberger, yours truly feels he played well vs. the Vikings, yet John Stiegerwald offered this tweet right after the interception:

Is that a fair assessment?

3. When Larry Foote went down the initial word was that Lawrence Timmons would get the helmet mic. But Dick LeBeau decided to split those duties between Kion Wilson and Vince Williams. Since then the Steelers have been gouged for a series of long gains on the ground and through the air. Missed tackles have played a part, but guys have also been out of position. Is it time for LeBeau to revisit that decision?

4. When the Chargers cut Max Starks in preseason PaVASteeler offered a well-reasoned, impassioned plea for the Steelers not to consider bringing the tackle that bailed them out in 2008 and again in 2011. For four weeks we've seen Jared Allen (and others) literally run circles around Mike Adams.... And Max Starks just became available again. Should the Steelers at least look into bringing back Starks yet again?

5. Le'Veon Bell's debut is getting all kinds of accolades despite only rushing for 57 yards on 16 carries. Even if we can agree that his two touchdowns were impressive, did his performance merit such praise.

Bye Week Bonus:

6. Two years ago I opened this question recounting how I (sort of) jokingly asked a friend of mine who was planning a fall trip to Paris to propose to his fiancé if he was "going to go during the bye week?" (Mind you this was coming off the heels of the '99 6-10 season.)

The question was, "Has anyone intentionally planned a major activity around the Steelers bye week?" The best answer we got was from "Frank" who told us:

Waited for a bye week to kick my girlfriend out once. Sundays were the only day we were both home for extended periods., and I didn't want to deal with during a game. I know, i know..I'm horrible, but that was a long time coming. She was a very stressful person to be around at that time. I also needed another check to by a new TV, we used hers when mine broke.

Can anyone top that?

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