A meaningless game at the end of the season coupled with a week off before a home playoff game usually ends in failure for the Steelers. Those who experienced that failure as well as the success of doing it the hard way in 2005 promise it will be different this time.

"We were 15-1," linebacker Larry Foote recalled of their last bye season in 2004, "and had it locked up and relaxed a little bit. Guys who were on that team ain't going to let it happen this year."

The Steelers have not won a Super Bowl as one of the top two seeds since XIV following the 1979 season. Since then, they were seeded with a bye in the seasons of 1994, 1995, 1997, 2001 and 2004.

They won their first playoff game in each of those five seasons, then lost the AFC championship game at home in four of them. They reached Super Bowl XXX after '95 and lost to Dallas.

That they won their only Super Bowl in the past 29 years by doing it the hard way, without a bye and [having] all [playoff games] on the road, still has not made them long for having to play a game next week.

"Granted, we won the Super Bowl without the bye," defensive end Aaron Smith said, "but I'll take it any time. You still want to go in there with a more healthy group, emotionally and physically -- not worn down, fresher."

The Steelers of '05 changed the landscape forever by becoming the first team to win three playoff games on the road and then win the Super Bowl. It's happened two of the past three years thanks to the New York Giants.

"All the years up to us, it never happened before," Smith said. "There's a reason behind that. I'll take the bye week any time over playing."

History backs him up. Of the 30 Super Bowls played from the time the NFL started seeding teams in 1975 and the Steelers' 2005 victory, 25 were won by one of the top two seeds. Among the other five, two were won by division champions who had first-week byes before the playoffs were expanded -- San Francisco after the 1986 season and Washington after the '87 season. Three wild-card teams have won Super Bowls since seeds started in '75 and before the Steelers did it again in 2005 -- the '80 Oakland Raiders, the '97 Denver Broncos and the '00 Baltimore Ravens.

The Steelers were the first No. 1 seed when the NFL went to that playoff system after the 1975 season and won their second Super Bowl. They were the No. 1 seed in 1978 and No. 2 in 1979 when they won their third and fourth Super Bowls after the AFC championship games each year were held at Three Rivers Stadium vs. Houston.

So, overwhelmingly, the way to go is with the bye, it just hasn't been the Steelers' way to go most recently. They want to change that this time.

"I think being more mentally sharp," Foote gave as his solution to correct what might have ailed them in '04. "I don't know what happened. I don't know [if we took things for granted] but I know we struggled in the first game against the [New York] Jets, and you know what happened in the second game."

The New England Patriots beat them for the second time in the AFC title game at Heinz Field in four seasons.

"We have to keep sharper," Foote said, "keep fresh and keep in the back of our mind what happened the last time we had a bye. We know it; I wasn't the only one on that team. We're ready for it. We remind the young guys, and they're going to follow by our actions.

"We're a veteran team, we've been in the playoffs several times, so we have an advantage over a lot of teams because we've been there."

The Steelers also have a history of entering the playoffs as the No. 2 seed and ending up with the AFC title game in their stadium because the top seeds lost their first games. It happened in 1979 because San Diego lost, in 1995 when Kansas City lost, and in 1997 when Kansas City lost again. The Steelers held the No. 1 seed in 1994, 2001 and 2004.

The Steelers would play the AFC championship in Heinz Field if they win their first playoff game and No. 1 seed Tennessee loses.

"Every year, you see a No. 1 or No. 2 team go down," said nose tackle Chris Hoke, a rookie in 2001. "Sometimes, you see these teams that are the fifth or sixth seeds are the ones building momentum. The year we won the Super Bowl we were hot. We were playing good Football. I think there's a lot to be said for momentum.''

It may be one reason coach Mike Tomlin put his players through a work week almost as if there were no Christmas and will play them today as if this game is not meaningless against Cleveland.

"We have a lot of guys on this team that won a Super Bowl and have been in the playoffs,'' Hoke said. "You're two games away from the Super Bowl and you dream about getting back to it for a lot of us, and a lot of dreams, for those who did not, of getting there."

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Today

* Game: Steelers vs. Cleveland Browns -- the 112th meeting between the teams.

* When: 1 p.m.

* Where: Heinz Field.

* TV: KDKA.

Inside

On the Steelers, Page C-4.

Game matchup, Page C-5.

NFL Forecast, Page C-6.