Steelers safety Mike Mitchell fined for hit on Chargers TE Antonio Gates

The Pittsburgh Steelers have heard from the NFL league office a lot this week. After Cameron Heyward and Stephon Tuitt were both fined nearly $6 thousand dollars a piece for uniform violations, safety Mike Mitchell was fined by the league for an illegal hit on Antonio Gates in the team's 24-20 over the San Diego Chargers on Monday Night Football.

Per ProFootballTalk, the hit was deemed an "unnecessary hit" as Mitchell hit Gates when the pass was thrown in another area of the field. There was no penalty thrown on the play during the game, but upon review of the film, the NFL deemed the hit to be worthy of a fine.

Mitchell was fined $8,681 dollars for the hit, and was not the first time the Steelers, and former Oakland Raiders and Carolina Panthers, safety has been fined by the league for what they deemed an illegal or "dirty" hit.

This isn't the first time Mitchell has found his way into the news this season either. It was just a few weeks ago where Baltimore Ravens' wide receiver Steve Smith Sr. put Mitchell on his "hit list" after he claimed Mitchell speared him in the back. Smith suffered broken bones in his back and hasn't played since the Week 4 game, although upon review it was a Lawrence Timmons and Antwon Blake hit which caused the injury.

The Steelers will be much lighter in the wallet this week as they host the 4-1 Arizona Cardinals at Heinz Field for a 1:00 p.m. EDT kickoff.