Thursday, January 19, 2006
By Ed Bouchette, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Gladys and John Bettis sat in the RCA Dome Sunday staggered at what had happened with 80 seconds left and the Steelers clinging to a 3-point lead over the Indianapolis Colts. The dream ending to their son's career, a Super Bowl game in their hometown of Detroit, was dissolving into a nightmare in Indianapolis before their very eyes.
After Bettis lost the ball from the Colts' 2 and cornerback Nick Harper picked it up and Ben Roethlisberger made his season-saving tackle, Gladys Bettis could watch no more.
"She went to the bathroom," John Bettis said yesterday. "She left entirely."
She stayed inside the ladies room, praying, as the Colts advanced into Steelers territory.
"I couldn't even look out there on the field, I was stunned, totally stunned," John Bettis said. "I couldn't believe it was going to end that way."
Of course, it did not, and the Bus' mom left the bathroom only after Mike Vanderjagt missed a 46-yard field goal that would have tied it.
"She only came out," her husband said, "when she heard some Steelers fans cheer."
She also had some advice for her son.
"My wife called Jerome that night and asked, 'What are you going to give Ben for saving the game for you?' He said, 'Yeah, that was big.' "
Roethlisberger got a big thank you from Bettis and the chance to keep the dream alive, the one the Steelers have for the Bus, the same one they have for themselves.
Hines Ward bawled like a baby when the season abruptly ended in the AFC championship game in 2005 because he thought it was Bettis' last chance to get to a Super Bowl. Now, Bettis is one game from a possible storybook ending of his career with a Super Bowl victory in Detroit. Think Dan Marino ending his great career with a Super Bowl in Pittsburgh.
Ward knows a Super Bowl is motivation enough but said the drive to get Bettis there is also real.
"I think every player has been touched by him in some form or way. You know, if this is going to be his last run and he's not going to be here, you want to go out and do everything you possibly can to get this man there.
"He helped me out, helped who I am in my career. He helped Ben out. Every player on this team has been helped by Jerome. That's why I think we kind of rally around that. We want to cherish every moment we can if this is his last year."
Bettis said if that helps motivate his teammates, so be it, because he'll take any extra stimulation to land in his first Super Bowl and win it in Detroit after three losses in AFC championship games with the Steelers
"Whatever it takes, that's fine, I'll take it. The goal's the same. The means, that's negotiable. It doesn't matter what our means is as long as our final outcome is what we want it to be."
He's neither thinking about the end of his career nor about the chance to finish it in the Super Bowl.
"I've done that before, and it cost us. I think we all did that before, thinking of the Super Bowl, making Super Bowl preparations and all that kind of stuff, having Super Bowl meetings, that kind of stuff and it cost us."
That happened in January 2002 when the AFC championship game was played in Heinz Field and the Super Bowl game followed a week later. Now, there are two weeks between the games so nobody has to worry about Super Bowl plans until they actually find out if they're going.
This likely is the final season for Bettis, although he acknowledged yesterday that had the Colts won after he fumbled, "it would be hard to walk away from a last carry like that."
Instead, he likely has, at most, two more football games left in him.
"When you come out and you're not the same football player, then it's a discredit to you first and also your organization," Bettis explained. "They expect the guy who's coming out here like this year, they don't want a guy who's any different.
"If you go out there and you're not able to do that, then what are you? You're just a shell of the player you used to be. That's the scary part with athletes. Sometimes, it's hard to get us to walk away, but sometimes it's better to walk away because then you're not in a situation where you're holding everybody back and you're not the same player you used to be."
Up in the Denver stands, Gladys and John Bettis will watch again Sunday as they have for every one of his NFL games. This time, they hope to celebrate without a prayer being offered in a Mile High bathroom.
"We've been close before," John Bettis said.
"Until I see double zeroes on the clock and we're ahead, I'm waiting. I can't have too many more of these fumbles. I'm an old man."
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(Ed Bouchette can be reached at ebouchette@post-gazette.com or 412-263-3878.)
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