Bill Cowher has his work cut out for him again over the next two weeks; his Steelers are four-point favorites in the Super Bowl.

Gene J. Puskar, Associated Press

Steelers coach Bill Cowher leaves his weekly press conference yesterday. MORE COVERAGE Seattle fans slow to show their colors Steelers Notebook: On the road with white jerseys Super Bowl business: Coins, cookies and a pep rally Steelers Super Bowl Mailbag Steelers Trivia question of the day Steelers Nation Steelers Nation photo journal Vote for your favorite Steeler and help choose the seven top vote-getters to be featured in player pages next week in the print Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.

The coach and his players did well playing up the underdog theme as the road team through the playoffs, but they no longer have that role against Seattle. So Cowher did his best yesterday to try to knock his newly crowned AFC champions down a peg or two.

"We aren't suddenly this great team that's the best team in football," Cowher said. "We aren't. We haven't been."

He harkened back to their plight as a 7-5 team needing victories in their final four games merely to make it as the sixth seed in the AFC playoffs, and what was considered a dubious distinction of playing all of their playoffs on the road.

"We're no different, it's the same group of guys who are in there," Cowher said. "You can't forget how you created the opportunity to get to this point. I'm going to make sure they understand that. We've done nothing, nothing at all. We've created a golden opportunity."

Nothing? The Bengals, Colts and Broncos might not agree. But Cowher learned a lesson over the ensuing decade since he took the Steelers in his fourth season to Super Bowl XXX. They lost by 10 points to the heavily favored Cowboys, but they put on a good show right up to the end. Cowher was 38 years old and figured he had plenty of time to win some.

Three losses at home in AFC championship games after that and he feels differently this time.

"The longer you stay in it the more you cherish it," Cowher said. "You go early -- that was my fourth year -- you don't think about it. You realize how hard it is to get back there.

"We'll cherish it. We'll enjoy it. But like I said before, the most important thing is to not lose sight of what you're trying to do. That's an opportunity to win a championship."

Fifty-two players on his 53-man roster have never been in a Super Bowl. Only veteran backup cornerback Willie Williams has done so, with the Steelers 10 years ago.

"Getting there is one thing," Cowher said. "But it's not so much personal as it is for this organization, for these players and some of the guys [who] have been through some of the tough losses in some of the AFC Championship games."

The Steelers were underdogs in each of their past two games, by 3 in Denver, by 10 in Indianapolis. They were 3-point favorites in Cincinnati. Cowher will try to convince them they also are underdogs in the Super Bowl. Why?

"Everybody in life pulls for the underdog," Cowher explained. "If you can play that role, why not?

"I don't know if there is a favorite or an underdog. When you get to the Super Bowl, you have two football teams that earned the right to be there. You work hard to travel this path. If you're not able to finish the deal you'll be forgotten."

If they win, the Steelers would be the first team from the AFC to win five Super Bowls and join Dallas and San Francisco with the most Vince Lombardi Trophies.

"You have a chance to put your name up there with some of the great teams," Cowher said. "That's the opportunity that you're selling to your players. They don't remember who lost the game. They remember who won the game."

The hoopla around the Super Bowl has grown the past 10 years. It is America's unofficial holiday, its national circus. Last year, one of two living Beatles performed at halftime, Paul McCartney. This time it will be the Rolling Stones.

Cowher's job will be to reduce all that to a football game for his players.

"It's not just like any other game. The thing is to try and educate the players about what the day is like, what the week is like.

"At the same time you can enjoy the process. You just can't lose sight of the focus that you need to understand why you're there.

"You want to go through it, but you'll have a lot more time to reflect upon it when it's all said and done and you've been able to accomplish what you set out to do.

"It's a fine line; you go there and enjoy the process, but don't forget why you're there.

"I think that's a lesson in itself. There are a lot of distractions that can be there. You just have to keep things in the proper priority."