The Steelers wanted Jerome Bettis back, and yesterday they got their wish when he decided to take their offer and play his 13th season in the NFL.

The two sides came to a contract agreement in principle late Friday night in Indianapolis after Bettis told the Steelers he wanted to play one more season, according to those close to the negotiations. Bettis spent the past month deciding whether to retire or to play in 2005.

Bettis will earn about $1.5 million for the season, a raise of $500,000 over what he made in 2004. His contract had called for him to make $4,484,000 in 2005 and count $5,484,000 against their salary cap.

The sides were working on a Wednesday deadline to reduce that salary, because the Steelers could not carry that large of a figure under their cap for Bettis. All NFL teams must comply with the salary cap by Wednesday.

Instead, Bettis will count about $2.5 million against their cap, $1 million of that from the prorated portion of a previous signing bonus. Most, if not all, of the approximate $1.5 million he will earn in 2005 will come in the form of a salary because the Steelers did not want to push the cap accounting off into the future.

Bettis met Monday with coach Bill Cowher at the team's UPMC facility. Bettis told Cowher he would like to return and Cowher told him the team wanted him back. The two sides then began negotiations on a new contract.

Lamont Smith, Bettis' agent, and Steelers chief negotiator Omar Khan crafted the new deal Friday night over dinner in Indianapolis, where the NFL scouting combine is taking place this weekend.

Bettis, the NFL's fifth-leading career rusher with 13,294 yards, opened the 2004 season as the backup to Duce Staley but wound up leading the team with 941 yards rushing and making his fifth Pro Bowl.

The Steelers want him to serve in the same role as Staley's backup. He becomes the second of the NFL's career rushing leaders in the past several days to accept a pay reduction to return as a backup. Marshall Faulk, 12th on the NFL's career rushing list, agreed to take a cut from his $6 million salary to a $2 million signing bonus and $2 million salary to play as the St. Louis Rams' No. 2 back in 2005.

Bettis announced his possible intentions to retire the day after the Steelers lost in the AFC championship game to New England. His emotional talk to his coaches and teammates at a meeting that day brought many of them to tears.

In Jacksonville several days before the Feb. 6 Super Bowl, Bettis still had not made his decision.

"Physically, I don't feel that bad," Bettis said. "I'm still sore, a little banged up, but it's not the worst I ever felt, so that's promising."

Bettis also took a pay reduction last season from nearly $3.7 million to $1 million.