SINCE SUPER BOWL WIN, COACH PURPOSEFULLY LETS TEAM FOUNDER SO HE CAN RESURRECT IT; OTHERWISE, COACHING "WOULD BORE ME"CLEVELAND - Following the Steelers' 24-20 victory over the Browns this afternoon, Bill Cowher held the most candid press conference of his tenure as Steelers' head coach. Cowher admitted that ever since the Steelers' Super Bowl victory last February, coaching "isn't any fun anymore" unless he's living on the edge, playing to dig the team out of a deep hole. "Only when defeat is practically certain do I feel alive out there," the coach confessed.
Cowher admitted that he engineers the games to put the Steelers on the brink of defeat. "For example, I told Ben to take it easy in the first half [of today's victory over the Browns], and at some point in the second half I told him to pour it on," he said. That's exactly what Roethlisberger did. He played miserably in the first half, but then, in the fourth quarter alone he threw for 224 yards. The Steelers trailed the entire game until only 32 seconds remained in the fourth quarter when they finally took the lead on a Roethlisberger-to-Parker touchdown shovel.
"Today's game was fun," Cowher gushed.
Cowher also admitted that he probably "threw" at least four of the Steelers' losses this season just to put the team in an almost insurmountable hole. He acknowledged that his confession would come as a shock to many fans. "I thought it was only fair to the fans that they know the truth," he said. "I'm sure they understand that if I didn't do it this way, the whole thing would be a complete bore for me, and I know they wouldn't want that."
