Perhaps this is the way it ought to be.

Last year the Steelers went 15-1 and rolled into the playoffs as everyone's Super Bowl pick. They were the top dogs, the favorite, the best, most talented team out there. They were supposed to win.

That's not Pittsburgh.

It was similar after the 2001 season, when the Steelers strolled into the playoffs at 13-3, with the top seed and a clear road to the Super Bowl.

It just didn't feel right.

Folks in Pittsburgh don't just root for the Steelers; we identify with them. It's like the Steelers are in the region's DNA; sometimes we look at them and hope to see ourselves.

This year, we do. This year we see a team that was no one's favorite, a team that was down and nearly out, a team that struggled -- a team much like Pittsburgh. We see a team that turned to its own sense of family, to a fierce kind of pride and teamwork that was bent on proving the doubters wrong.

We also see something that goes a bit further. We see a team with supremely talented players who deflect talk of their own feats and turn it instead on the backup running back whose grit and determination overcome his fading talent. Ben Roethlisberger may have a magic arm, Hines Ward magic hands, Troy Polamalu magic legs, but they and all the others have made it clear: A big factor in this is Jerome Bettis' magic heart.

In that, we don't even see how we are -- we see how we'd like to be. That, maybe, is why this year, when Pittsburgh had to battle back as the underdog, feels so right.

We don't know how the Steelers will fare in Super Bowl XL, deserving as they may be. But win or lose in Detroit, this team has been special. Pittsburgh will be delighted to rally 'round them for two more weeks.