Cowher remains mum on future

Today's game with Baltimore will be the team's final home game.
PITTSBURGH (AP) -- The Pittsburgh Steelers have known for weeks that Sunday's game against Baltimore would be their last at home this season. A 2-6 start has a way of making the playoffs look out of reach.
What they don't know is if it will also be Bill Cowher's final home game as their coach, too.
Cowher is weighing whether to retire -- he may have already decided to do so -- but is refusing to discuss his future until the season ends. His undecided status adds an element of intrigue to what already is one of the NFL's best rivalry games, even though the Steelers (7-7) are long shots to reach the postseason.
"I'm not going to elaborate on it," Cowher said. "We're talking about the Baltimore Ravens."
Remarkably, this is only the third time since 1969, the year before the AFL-NFL merger, that the Steelers have gone into their final home game not knowing who would coach them the following season.
Chuck Noll strongly hinted that he might retire late in the 1991 season, then did so the day after Christmas. In 1999, the Steelers dropped seven of their final eight amid a rift between Cowher and director of football operations Tom Donahoe. Donahoe was ousted, but Cowher returned, and the Super Bowl-winning coach's status hasn't been in doubt since.
Future up in air
There is considerable doubt now. Cowher's family has relocated to a home in Raleigh, N.C., and he seems to be struggling with whether he wants to keep coaching or be with his family year-round in the city in which he has chosen to live.
Few in the organization expect this to be Cowher's final NFL season -- he is only 49, and seemingly has a lot of coaching left in him. If he passes up the final season of his contract in 2007, it would not be a surprise to the Steelers if he is back with another team on a different sideline as early as 2008.
Ravens coach Brian Billick said he doesn't know what Cowher plans to do. But he understands why his rival might be looking to get out of the game, if only briefly, after 15 seasons as a head coach and seven more as an NFL assistant.
Billick not surprised
"Am I surprised that any coach gets worn out? No," Billick said. "The track record for head coaches and heart disease, heart attacks and mental breakdowns and all that stuff is pretty high. The job is not easy to do and Bill has been at it a long time. No one has done it any better."
Cowher's players insist that his status has not affected their season, although the Steelers have one more loss than in the previous two seasons combined.
"Nobody talks about it until you guys bring it up," Ben Roethlisberger told a group of reporters.
Maybe that's why no Steelers player has mentioned wanting to beat the AFC North champion Ravens (11-3) any more than usual because Cowher may not coach them in Heinz Field again.
Regardless, there are numerous incentives for both teams to win.
Trying for home field
The Ravens are competing with the Chargers (12-2) and Colts (11-3) for home-field advantage throughout the AFC playoffs and a wild-card weekend bye.
"Show a schedule with a potential of having a bye the first week, and watch them sit up in their chairs and their eyes light up," Billick said of his players. "That means as much to them as anybody, believe me. It is important."
Defensive tackle Trevor Pryce promises that the Ravens won't let up despite already having clinched their division and a playoff spot. They finish against Buffalo next weekend.
"These two weeks are going to be the most important two weeks of the season, quite honestly," he said. "You want to go into the playoffs feeling confident, you want to go into the playoffs on a high note, and we still have something to play for."
Beat up Steelers earlier
Last month, the Ravens beat up on Pittsburgh as few teams have during the Cowher era, sacking Roethlisberger nine times during a 27-0 victory in Baltimore.
"They blitzed on every play, and it was feast or famine," linebacker Joey Porter said. "First down, they were rushing everybody because they know you can't run the ball when you're down 17-0, 21-0 in the third quarter."
The Steelers have never dropped both games to the Ravens in a season since the former Cleveland Browns moved to Baltimore in 1996. The Ravens have lost four in a row in Heinz Field.
Both teams could be without a key offensive line regular. Steelers right tackle Max Starks is out following knee surgery and will be replaced by a rookie, Willie Colon, who has never played in an NFL regular season game.
If Ravens star tackle Jonathan Ogden (toe) can't go, second-year lineman Adam Terry would start.
"It's not going to affect what we do," Porter said. "Our game plan isn't going to change because they're missing an offensive lineman. He's probably a big part of their offensive line, but it's not like [Steve] McNair's out or Jamal Lewis is out or a skill-position guy. I've never seen Ogden carry the ball or nothing like that."
McNair, 9-4 against the Steelers, is expected to play after sitting out much of last week's 27-17 decision over Cleveland with a sore hand.
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