After banking on beating the Cleveland Browns in the playoffs, but then coming short, JuJu Smith-Schuster resolved to give Steelers Nation a thankful, gratifying post on Instagram on Monday. Smith-Schuster even put Pittsburgh's mind at ease in his caption by stating that he'd love to be back in the Black and Gold for the long haul of his career and deliver a championship.

What might concern some Steelers fans — making them worry about 2021 — is the cryptic response from Smith-Schuster's mom, Sammy Schuster, who decided to also cut both ways under the photo:

Steelers fans might know that Sammy, who's Instagram username is mybeautiful_07, wrote this:

“I love you Son. Pittsburgh it's been one hell of a ride. Thank you for always treating me and my family like family. Thank you.”

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A ride it definitely has been. Smith-Schuster definitely didn't make things easy for himself as the season reached its halfway mark. The 24-year old Steelers wide receiver quickly became the villain of opposing teams due to his pre-game Tik Tok dances on logos, which is considered to be pure disrespect.

His villain persona took on a higher plateau after his bold comments about the Browns surfaced, and the Browns quickly made the Steelers regret those daring takes on Sunday with a 48-37 win that wasn't remotely close throughout the entirety of the game.

Despite his hard PR hits this past month, Smith-Schuster will definitely field some offers from multiple teams this offseason. Of course, his mom's comments could simply be conjecture, and he could end up back with the Steelers when it's all said and done.

The quarterback JuJu will have next season is likely to be Ben Roethlisberger, simply because Big Ben has made his intentions known to return for yet another NFL campaign. Yet, after seeing how Roethlisberger handled the wild card loss to the Browns — with a lot of padded stats in garbage time which were overshadowed by four interceptions — there will be fresh conversations about the franchise's next move at quarterback.