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Season-ending loss tough for Steelers to swallow
By Wayne Drehs
ESPN.com

PITTSBURGH -- The three girls just stood there, leaning against an empty locker and trying to keep out of the way. A long line of reporters strolled past, but the girls kept their sights on the ground, not speaking or making eye contact with anyone.

Each of their eyes were red and puffy. The girls -- Megan, 15, Lauren 13 and Lindsay 10 -- ignored their surroundings for some 15 minutes, until Dad finally came by. On his way to the podium, which the assembled media eagerly surrounded, Steelers coach Bill Cowher offered his daughters a wave. They replied with half-hearted grins and, for a split second, things felt normal.

Steelers coach Bill Cowher hugs his three daughters after Sunday's loss to the Patriots.

But then Cowher began to talk about Sunday's heartbreaking 24-17 loss to New England. He spoke of the lack of a running game, the turnovers and of being dominated on special teams. He lightly complained about the officiating. Then, he hit a soft point, describing how it felt to lose a chance to coach in his second Super Bowl.

At that point, Lindsay again began crying. She dragged the sleeve of her jean jacket across her eyes.

"The further you go (in the playoffs)," Cowher said, "the greater the disappointment and the more it hurts."

In that case, this one hurt a lot. To most Pittsburgh fans, Sunday's game against the Patriots was just a bump in the road to New Orleans. A handful of Steelers Super Bowl songs already blared on the radio, and Super Bowl signs were everywhere in downtown Pittsburgh.

Even the Steelers, though they didn't come right out and say it, seemed to be brewing with the highest level of confidence. Cowher already had budgeted Monday and Tuesday for his team to finalize the potential logistics of a Super Bowl trip. He defended the move on Friday, but one has to wonder if it played into his team's psyche. After all, the Patriots didn't do much Super Bowl planning heading into the AFC title game.

"All week, all they wanted to talk about was their defense, their receivers and their place in history," New England linebacker Ted Bruschi said of the nine-point favorites. "Well guess what? Their place in history is losing to the Patriots in the AFC Championship game and going home."

For Steelers fans, the pain and anguish of being favored in the AFC title game and then faltering -- at home no less -- is irritatingly familiar. In 1995, Pittsburgh was an 8½-point favorite on the Cinderella San Diego Chargers. But despite racking up 415 yards of total offense to San Diego's 226, the Chargers were 17-13 winners and earned a trip to the Super Bowl.

In 1998, the Denver Broncos became just the fourth team over a 20-year span to reach the Super Bowl as a wild-card team, beating the Steelers 24-21 in Pittsburgh. In that game, Kordell Stewart threw three interceptions. He did the same on Sunday.

So it's not difficult to feel the Steelers' pain after Sunday's defeat. Three Rivers Stadium, where three of the Steelers' previous six playoff appearances came to an end, was imploded nearly a year ago. But the ghosts of the cavernous old place seem to have found their way to Heinz Field.

How else can you explain a team that led the NFL with 173.4 rushing yards a game, coming up with just 59 against the Patriots? How else can you explain Stewart, who resurrected his career almost perfectly during the regular season, throwing three interceptions and losing a fumble on Sunday?

"It's a sick feeling," running back Jerome Bettis said. "Sick. And it's something that's becoming a little too familiar."

As the Steelers left the field Sunday, each of them momentarily passed in and out of the spotlight of a nearby television camera. Nobody said a word, not the players, not the coaches, not the trainers. They just walked by, many of them with their heads down.

And it was fitting.

For this team, which went 13-3 and dominated the defending Super Bowl champions last week, came out against the Patriots and laid an egg.

On special teams, they surrendered a 55-yard punt return to Troy Brown and a blocked field goal, which the Patriots took 60 yards for a touchdown. That's 14 points from special teams.

After that, the Steelers trailed 21-3. Though they made a spirited comeback in the third quarter, closing New England's lead to 21-17, they didn't get any closer.

"It's heart-wrenching," wide receiver Hines Ward said. "I mean, what can you say? We had our opportunities today, no question, but we let it slip away. Special teams killed us."

Said Pittsburgh tackle Wayne Gandy: "It's a very confusing state. Very empty, very lonely. To get to this point and then go out like this -- it's a very, very lonely feeling."

Cowher's three daughters knew that feeling, too. Cowher also undoubtedly knows it, though he tried to put on a brave front.

"We feel like we let one slip away," Cowher said. "There's a lot of disappointment in (the locker room). It's hard to put into words the disappointment that exists. But we have a lot to be proud of. I think this is a football team that -- even though we fell short -- far exceeded anyone's expectations this year."

Wayne Drehs is a staff writer for ESPN.com.

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