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Bill Cowher isn't ready to rush to judgment following the worst of his 12 seasons as Pittsburgh Steelers coach.
Cowher, who usually doesn't hesitate to make moves once a season ends, said Monday he'll take plenty of time to analyze this season gone wrong before recommending any changes.
That would signal no immediate shake-up of the roster or the coaching staff, even though the Steelers went 6-10 after winning 25 games the previous two seasons. The Steelers also were 6-10 in 1999, but didn't start that season with the high expectations of this year.
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``You've got to be very careful not to sit here, just 24 hours after putting
five months into something, and start saying, `OK, this is what we're going
to do and what we have to do,''' Cowher said. ``That's not being fair.''
Cowher knows the salary cap will force some changes -- the Steelers probably can't afford to keep both Jerome Bettis and Amos Zereoue at running back -- but he disagreed an overhaul is needed.
``It's very evident, with eight of the 12 playoff teams from last season having losing records and eight new teams in playoffs, that there is a very, very fine line between winning and losing,'' he said. ``We're not that far away from being a good team and some of top teams probably aren't that far away from having a season like we did.
``In one year's time, we didn't become a really bad football team.''
Cowher might be wary of making quick personnel decisions after several key changes made in the aftermath of last year's 10-5-1 season turned out badly.
The training camp benchings of Bettis and tight end Mark Bruener were big flops as their replacements, Zereoue and Jay Riemersma, had poor seasons. Zereoue, running behind an injury-altered offensive line, led the NFL in carries for zero or minus yards and was benched halfway through the season. Riemersma made only 10 catches.
Bettis returned to have two 100-yard games down the stretch, moving him past Jim Brown into sixth place on the NFL's career rushing list. He finished with 811 yards and might have had his ninth 1,000-yard season with more carries earlier in the season.
To return next year, Bettis may have to restructure a contract that is due to pay him $3.7 million in 2004.
``I'll talk with him, and we'll see where we sit with the cap, but I have so much respect for him and the way he plays the game,'' Cowher said.
Despite Bettis' late-season push, the Steelers finished next to last in the league with 1,488 yards rushing; for comparison's sake, they had more yards rushing (1,542) while going 1-13 in 1969.
At least statistically, quarterback Tommy Maddox had a successful follow-up to his Comeback Player of the Year season, but many of his 3,414 yards passing came with the Steelers trailing. They scored 30 or more points only twice after doing so seven times last season.
``We could never get on a roll and get a streak going,'' Cowher said of a team that never won consecutive games. ``We were never able to put anything together, and that's why we sit here a 6-10 team. And not much good comes out of being 6-10.''
Defensively, linebacker Joey Porter, an All-Pro last season, wasn't the same after a gunshot wound sidelined him for the first two games. His drop-off was one reason the Steelers had 16 fewer sacks than in 2002.
After a 2-1 start that included a 34-15 rout of Baltimore in the opener, the Steelers' season began to fall apart with consecutive home losses to Tennessee (30-13) and Cleveland (33-13). Both games included an interception returned for a touchdown; the Steelers had four touchdown returns against them in their first five games.
``It seemed like we had a lot of big plays happen against us, and I think we started to waver a little bit there,'' Cowher said. ``I don't know if we really recaptured any true confidence in being able to overcome things.''
Those losses began a five-game slide that effectively sank their season by midyear, and Sunday night's 13-10 overtime loss in Baltimore was the Steelers' third defeat in their final five games.
Hines Ward (95 catches, 10 touchdowns) was their most consistent player and was chosen as the team MVP, but Plaxico Burress had 465 fewer yards receiving than last season and often was neutralized by top defenses.
``It just seemed like we
had a lot of plays that didn't go our way,'' fullback Dan Kreider said. ``It
was the story of our season.''