On Friday, news broke that Le'Veon Bell was facing a four-game suspension due to multiple missed drug tests. In the NFL, a missed drug test is a failed drug test. This comes just one year after Bell was suspended for the first two games of the 2015 NFL season for DUI and marijuana possession, an incident that occurred with Legarrette Blount, formerly of the Steelers and now of the Patriots.

Immediately, the NFL media was quick to come up with excuses for Bell. Live on ESPN, one analyst claimed Bell was living in a new area this summer and may not have known how to get to the testing facility. Other media-created excuses include that Bell missed a plane and that he didn't know he needed to go for the drug test.

Yes, that is how far some members of the media are willing to go to come up with an excuse for why Bell has the potential to win his forthcoming appeal and have his four-game suspension reduced or done away with. In reality, and for a player who isn't on the Steelers, it should be really hard for Bell to win this suspension.

Since Friday, Bell has made his Twitter and Instagram accounts private, but per CBS Sports, he made a comment on Instagram saying, "I'm gonna win the appeal... ppl have no idea what happened, but don't worry...let em hate, when I end up missin no games at all, ppl for sure gonna try to love me again and I'm only ridin with my LOYAL fans!!"

Bell may be a bit delusional as he previously denied a report about this missed test when it originally surfaced a month ago. Bell responded to those claims saying, "I don't know what you are talking about. I am fine. I haven't missed any drug tests, failed any drug tests. I can't keep talking about the drug test."

It seems like Bell is going to need to keep talking about the drug test if he wants to win his appeal. But interestingly, while many often want to paint the Bengals as the bad-boy franchise of the NFL, it's actual the Steelers players who have come under fire recently for drug-related incidents. And, one NFL executive believes that if what was happening to the Steelers was happening to the Patriots, the league would be handling it differently, per Bleacher Report's Mike Freeman.

"If what's happening in Pittsburgh was happening in New England, there would be multiple league investigations," said an NFC East team executive, who asked not to be identified to Bleacher Report. "But because the Steelers are so liked by the media and league, they get a pass."

This is a sentiment we often comment on as Bengals fans. It seems the Steelers just get away with things no other NFL team would because both the media and NFL love the Steelers. How many NFL rules are in place because of the Steelers' bad behavior? How many Bengals players have been harmed by Steelers players, yet, the entire narrative about the violent play between the two teams is that it's Vontaze Burfict's fault? How many Steelers coaches have gone out of their way to mess with live games? We could really list countless examples of things the Steelers have gotten away with.

It's kind of nice to see an NFL executive, even anonymously, comment on the Steelers' free pass to break the rules and get away with it.