Lake Fong, Post-Gazette And so...It begins again. Click photo for larger image. More Steeler Stories: Hines Ward & four other Story Lines Steelers Training Camp 2005: Things every fan needs to know Smizik: Plenty of uncertainty surrounds Roethlisberger 2005 Pittsburgh Steelers: Offense 2005 Pittsburgh Steelers: Defense 2005 Pittsburgh Steelers Coaching Staff

Bill Cowher knows expectations the way he knows expectorations; they can get messy at times.

High expectations will be the theme for Cowher's 14th training camp as Steelers coach when all players under contract are required to report by 6 p.m. at St. Vincent College in Latrobe. What else but a rosy outlook could be formed for a team that went 15-1 last season behind the greatest performance by a rookie quarterback and a defense that finished No. 1 in the NFL?

"I think there's a greater challenge this year coming back with that same look in our eye than there was the year before, because there was low expectation," Cowher said.

Actually, there were no expectations one year ago for a team that slumped to 6-10 in 2003. But the NFL of the 21st century is one in which fortunes can change dramatically and almost instantaneously. While that was a good thing for the 2004 Steelers, they also hope it also will bode well for 2005.

The Steelers don't care about matching their 15-1 record. They want their fortunes to change in the postseason. Becoming the first team from the AFC to win 15 regular-season games doesn't mean much compared to becoming the first from their conference to win a fifth Super Bowl.

They did celebrate a Super Bowl victory last year, but it was the silver anniversary of their last Lombardi Trophy, which came in January 1980. A generation has passed since the Steelers were NFL champs and, in the spring, club president Art Rooney II said it's about time they achieve that status again.

"I think for the people who have been around for a while now, I think we all feel like it's time," Rooney said. "We've been close and we have to take that last step."

The 2004 season was enjoyable, Rooney said, but the end was not.

"Look, statistically it was our best ever," said Rooney, who is entering his third season at the helm of the Steelers after succeeding his father, Dan. "You can't dismiss that. It's something everybody can be proud of. It's certainly an accomplishment."

But ...

Lake Fong, Post-Gazette Hines Ward signs the jersey of Steelers fan Ashley Duxbury Thursday during a public appearance at a store in the Waterfront complex in Homestead. It precededhis announcement that he wouldn't report to camp until he had a contract extension in hand. Click photo for larger image.

"In our business, the bottom line is, did you win a championship? So that's still the way you measure your success by."

Cowher and his players expressed similar opinions.

"No one wants it more than myself, our team and my staff," Cowher said.

And no one on his team carries such desire more than Jerome Bettis. It's the only reason he returned to play a 13th NFL season. The Steelers can do better than 15-1, Bettis said.

"Win the Super Bowl. It's not about the regular season," he said.

"I was at an autograph signing and guys said '16-0! 16-0!' And I said it doesn't matter what the record is. You can go 10-6 and make the playoffs. That's the bottom line; 10-6 in the playoffs and a chance to win the Super Bowl, that's all that matters."

The Steelers have the best record in the AFC since 1992 (130-77-1), when Cowher became their coach. Only the Green Bay Packers have a better record in the NFL over that period. Yet the Steelers are 8-9 in the postseason in that time, including last year's loss at home to New England in the AFC championship game, dropping their record in the title contest to 1-4 since January 1995.

"I looked at the standings of something the other day," center Jeff Hartings said, "and saw we went 16-2 [including playoffs] and I said, 'Man, I can't believe we won that many games' because you really don't have anything to show for it as far as a ring, and that's always the goal, that's what we're shooting for."

Changes have occurred to that team leading to tonight's reporting time for the start of training camp. Wide receiver Plaxico Burress is gone, as are linemen Oliver Ross and Keydrick Vincent, linebacker Kendrell Bell and cornerback Chad Scott. Essentially, however, they enter training camp with no major weaknesses.

But the dynamics can change quickly, and it's something that concerned Cowher enough during the offseason that he mentioned it on several occasions.

"The biggest concern I have is making sure we understand that we aren't just going to be able to pick up where we left off," he said. "We got there because we kind of went into training camp with a chip on our shoulder, we backed ourselves into a wall early in that season.

"We kind of went into each game realizing we had no margin for error. We created a demeanor with our football team that was built on unselfishness, this sense of no matter who was in there we were going to find a way to get it done, and we can't lose that. Just because of what we did last year record-wise, and [people] say you have a lot of people coming back you should be able to repeat that, you know, it wasn't so much the people, it was our approach. We can't lose that approach."