Mike Prisuta: One for the humble

Mike Prisuta
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Tuesday, February 7, 2006

DETROIT -- It was finally time for Bill Cowher to reflect on Monday, but in doing so, the winning coach in Super Bowl XL couldn't resist a brief look ahead.

"You don't just pick up where you left off," Cowher said. "We've got some work ahead of us."
The first stumbling block toward a potential repeat next February in Miami will be free agency, where the Steelers will once again have some difficult decisions to make.

Among those are what to do about the impending unrestricted status of wide receiver Antwaan Randle El, quarterback Charlie Batch, tight end Jerame Tuman, running back Verron Haynes, defensive ends Brett Keisel and Kimo von Oelhoffen, cornerback Deshea Townsend and free safety Chris Hope.

Randle El, von Oelhoffen, Townsend and Hope are starters.

All played integral roles in the Steelers' unprecedented climb to the top of the NFL's mountain.

Not all of them will be back.

Then there's the matter of whether the Steelers can afford to pay center Jeff Hartings $4 million in 2006 and allow him to cost $8.129 million against the salary cap.

And the question of how much more starting running back and budding star Willie Parker deserves than the $305,000 base salary he earned in 2005.

Yet the inevitable economic fluctuations this offseason will constitute just half the battle in the Steelers' upcoming title defense.

There's a chemistry that must be formed again among the players and coaches, a work ethic that must be established, a commitment that must be invested individually and collectively before a team can begin to even contemplate accomplishing what the Steelers achieved this season.

"We'll have to start over," Cowher allowed.

They'll do so with a championship-caliber nucleus of rising stars and core veterans on both sides of the ball.

So if anything, the organization's window of opportunity remains wide open.

Still, as Cowher is painfully aware, there are no guarantees.

In speaking to the media one final time when wide receiver Hines Ward received the Super Bowl XL MVP trophy and a new Cadillac, Cowher also personified what it means to be a true champion.

In what could have been an in-your-face declaration to his detractors, Cowher instead spoke with humility and respect for the game and his players.

He offered keen insight into the NFL's sometimes cruel championship quest, not having forgotten hours after finally winning one that sometimes no matter what you do, it just isn't enough.

In as eloquent an address as he's delivered in 14 years with the Steelers, Cowher quickly praised the Seahawks and head coach Mike Holmgren.

Cowher also credited his relentless staff of assistants for comprising "the best coaching staff, I think, in the National Football League."

And Cowher reminded the media lingering in the Motor City to see whether Ward would select a white or black Escalade that while the Steelers might have beaten the Broncos and Colts on their way to Ford Field, all that established was that the Steelers had been the better team "on that day.

"There's a fine line," Cowher insisted yet again.

Finally seeing it from the other side hasn't dampened Cowher's appreciation of that.