PITTSBURGH – Three AFC Championship Games Bill Cowher has lost at home and he still has the homiest head-coaching job in the NFL for probably its homiest franchise.
“Teams make changes, that’s their business, but you’re starting over and that’s foolish, almost like an expansion team,” said Steeler owner Dan Rooney. “The last [35] years we’ve been very fortunate to have two good coaches and stuck with them.”
Chuck Noll, who won the Steelers’ four world titles, missed the playoffs his first three years and six out of his last seven before retiring. Cowher, who took over for Noll in 1992 and lost his only Super Bowl in 1996, had been to the postseason only twice in the last six seasons, before going 16-1 and to today’s contest, where he is favored to lose again and not get blamed for it.
Last spring, Cowher received a contract extension off a 6-10 season. Only once in 13 years did he appear in trouble, rated 50-50 to lose a power and personality strug gle with personnel boss Tom Dona hoe, who was sent packing instead following a 6-10 season in 1999.
Tony Dungy, Bum Phillips, Leeman Bennett, maybe a few more guys have gotten fired for repeated failure to get over the hump in the playoffs. A lot more coaches are let go for not mak ing them. But Rooney says having to change so many players in this cap era is all the more reason not to change the coach. Who, by the way, in sists he changed nothing in preparation for another conference championship contest, never mind his 1-3 record in them.
“I don’t learn from them, but I can tell you about them,” he said. “First one [Chargers, after the 1994 season], we were either going to the Super Bowl on a fourth-and-3 or we weren’t and it was incomplete to [Barry] Foster.
“Next year, same end zone, another incomplete [Colts’ Jim Harbaugh] pass and this time we go. In 1997 [against Denver] I remember us coming back within three and we called a blitz and the ball went right past [Jason Gildon’s] earhole to Shannon Sharpe and they ran out the clock. In 2001 [against the Patriots], we gave up two special-teams touchdowns.
“What did I learn? It’s football. We were prepared. The other team made more plays than we did. I’m not going to overanalyze it more than that.”
Today, Cowher goes up against one of the great analyzers of all time, Bill Belichick, three years after being shocked by him here. Belichick hasn’t lost a big one in New England, but is 4-8 career against Cowher.
“Belichick doesn’t show emotion so you have to go somewhere else with his praise,” said Jerome Bettis. “[Cowher] is fiery, edgy, aggressive, tough. It rubs off on us.”
In 1997, at Jacksonville, he was one step on the field, arm back, ready to clothesline the Jaguars’ Chris Hudson as he ran down the sideline after a block of what would have been a winning field goal. Condescending, smug, Cowher has alienated assistant coaches, secretaries, local media, but fewer players.
“He’s creative with his personnel and has ultimate confidence in us,” said Bettis. “Some coaches don’t show it.”
And some refuse to adapt, unlike Cowher after failing last season with a passing offense, or become obsessive and stale.
“I’m not a 12-month guy,” he said. “Demanding as this game is, I’m grateful for the dead period after the season.”
Also, for another huge opportunity, because you never really know if one will come again. Nevertheless, with this owner’s way of giving them, he continues to get them.