On this solemn anniversary, Tunch Ilkin remembers precisely where he was and what he was doing when the reality of the news struck him. He was next to pal Craig Wolfley in the Steelers' locker room at Three Rivers Stadium.

"I remember sitting next to Wolf and saying, 'Oh, my gosh, we're 1-6!' And Wolf says, 'I know, can you believe it?' And I said, 'Look at the bright side, Tampa Bay's like this every year.' "

It was 1988 and the Steelers were on their way to a 5-11 season, which remains their worst record since Chuck Noll's first team in 1969 went 1-13. On the 15th anniversary of that sorry '88 season, the Steelers threaten to repeat it.

Mathematically, they remain alive for a playoff spot because at 3-7 they trail AFC North front-runners Cincinnati and Baltimore, both 5-5, by two games. Realistically, they are closer to a top-five draft pick than they are the playoffs. They've lost six of their past seven games and rest uncomfortably at the bottom of the division. The Steelers have not finished last in their division since 1988.

Today the Steelers play in Cleveland, a team that beat them by 20 at Heinz Field Oct. 5, with a chance to drag the 4-6 Browns into last place with them.

For the third consecutive week, the theme from the Steelers' locker room has been they have to win them all.

	At a glance: Steelers (3-7) vs. Browns (4-6) 1 p.m. today Cleveland Browns Stadium KDKA Ed Bouchette's NFL notebook Ed Bouchette's AFC notebook Ed Bouchette's NFC notebook Gerry Dulac's NFL forecast

"At this point in time, every week we can't just say we still have a chance," running back Amos Zereoue said. "This time, it really holds true. There's only six games left, Cincinnati and Baltimore are tied for first, so there's two teams we have to chase.

"We can't afford any more losses. I still think 9-7 will get in there."

It may not be a case whether 9-7 makes it, but whether the Steelers can even think of winning six in a row. They've shown nothing to make anyone believe they can sweep their final six. They are one game better than the worst records in the NFL. If they were a baseball team, their .300 winning percentage would be Detroit Tigers-like, on pace to lose 113 games.

Receiver Plaxico Burress said it's hard to look in the newspaper and see them at the bottom of the division at 3-7.

"Not only that, Cincinnati's winning the division," he said. "It's been a long time since that happened. I don't take anything away from them. They're playing great football right now and it's time for them to turn it around. But for us, we came into this year and anything less than the Super Bowl was a disappointment. For us to sit here and think about not making the playoffs is a major disappointment."

Burress came to the Steelers as a rookie in 2000. They were 9-7 but did not make the playoffs that season, then went 13-3 and reached the AFC championship game in 2001 and went 10-5-1 and nearly made it to their second consecutive title game last season.

"I've been here for four years now, and the past three seasons we've done pretty well," Burress said. "To me, the playoffs are something you get used to. To be on the brink of not making it and making it tough on ourselves every week, it hurts a little bit to not be in that position because you expect so much from this team, just the Pittsburgh Steelers alone. To not get there, for that thought to cross your mind, you never saw it coming."

What they also did not see coming was that window of opportunity slamming shut on them. Management sunk a lot of money into keeping the 2001 team together, for the most part, with the idea that this core group could make a run at the Super Bowl. That run looks to be at an end.

A few of the old guard disagree.

"I think the window of opportunity is only as good as your talent," Jerome Bettis said, "and I think the talent is still here. No question. It's just everything's not on the same page. That's the problem because the same group of guys in here have pretty much been here."

Quarterback Tommy Maddox does not see this season as the beginning of a long slide for the Steelers.

"I've been around this game a long time," he said. "I've been around teams that struggle in years and the next year come out and get all the breaks and start rolling again. You can look at teams from last year that maybe weren't having great years or great success. The Kansas City Chiefs are a perfect example. They're a team with a lot of the same guys there. They got on a roll this year and had some things happen and everyone's saying they might be the best team in football."

Some are saying the Steelers are among the worst.

"They have a valid reason to think that way because we are 3-7, regardless how you look at it," Zereoue said. "We just haven't been able to get the job done."

There are players in their locker room today having the same kinds of conversations Ilkin and Wolfley had 15 years ago. Maybe they can learn some lessons from history. They reached the playoffs in 1989 and nearly made it to the AFC title game.

"The one thing about that year is we grew pretty close as a football team, because nobody liked us but us," Ilkin said. "We didn't want to be in public: 'What's wrong with you guys, you guys stink.' Everyone has an answer for why you're playing so poorly."

No one had a solution back then, and they don't have one now.