Matt Freed, Post-Gazette Nick Harper put "The Tackle" behind him last season. Click photo for larger image. Related article Smizik: Grossman remains X factor SUPER BOWL XLI Indianapolis Colts vs. Chicago Bears Sunday, 6:25 p.m., KDKA

MIAMI BEACH, Fla. -- On second thought, Nick Harper wishes he had stayed on course, run up along the Steelers' sideline and into Colts history.

Instead, the Indianapolis cornerback veered to his left and tripped into NFL infamy. That change of direction in the AFC playoff game last year after Harper recovered Jerome Bettis' fumble allowed quarterback Ben Roethlisberger to make a game-saving shoestring tackle at the Colts' 42.

Instead of a 93-yard touchdown return that might have stood next to the Immaculate Reception among the NFL's most memorable plays and put the Colts a step closer to the Super Bowl, the Steelers hung on for a 21-18 playoff victory.

The Colts are still trying to live down that home playoff loss to the nine-point underdog Steelers. A victory Sunday against Chicago in the Super Bowl would do it, especially for Harper, who might not play against the Bears because of a high ankle sprain.

"We know we should have won that game, we know we're very capable of beating that team," Harper said this week. "We just didn't get it done. They made more plays than we did."

None bigger than the one by Roethlisberger. With the ball on the Colts' 2, Bettis rammed into the line, and the ball popped loose. Harper picked it up at the 7 and ran the other way, toward the sideline on his right. For some reason, he cut to his left, and that allowed Roethlisberger enough time to stick out his hand and grab Harper's lower right leg and bring him down.

Harper said he put the play behind him last season, but reaching another AFC championship game and landing in the Super Bowl only brings more questions about it. Yes, he said, he would have run that play differently.

"I would have stayed to the sideline," Harper said. "If I had known he was farther away than I thought he was, I would have stayed toward the sideline.

"For people to remember that play is shocking, but, for some reason, it's sticking around."

Now, the Colts get a chance Sunday to beat the Bears and win their first Super Bowl since Johnny Unitas wore a Baltimore Colts uniform.

"It made this even sweeter to know that everybody's going to remember that play," Harper said. "But if you go out and win this game, nobody's going to remember that play anymore. Everybody remembers the Super Bowl winner; nobody remembers the losers."

The Colts' chances won't be enhanced if Harper does not line up at his left cornerback spot. He tied for the team interception lead with three and in passes defensed with 11. He left the AFC championship game because of his ankle injury and is listed as questionable this week.

What the top-seeded Colts learned most from their home playoff loss to the Steelers last season was how painful it was. It's the same thing Bill Cowher talked so often about a year ago, how painful it was to lose his first Super Bowl in Arizona.

"You just remember how bad it hurts," Indianapolis center Jeff Saturday said. "Anytime you feel you have the better team and go in and play poorly, those things stick with you.

"So we knew coming in this year, you have to play well in the playoffs. There is no giveaway game; guys are coming with the best they have because you go home [if you lose], and I think we had a better perspective of that this year."

Linebacker Rob Morris does not lend as much credence as his teammates to anything the loss at home to the Steelers provided them this year.

"I guess some people say that catapulted us or motivated us," Morris said. "We could have been 4-12 last year, and I would have still been motivated the same to get to the Super Bowl this year. What happens the year before, you kind of use those experiences, but I don't know if that was the jumping off point."