Cowher's Blues Outweigh QB Tears

Last year, Kordell Stewart got a peck on the cheek from coach Bill Cowher on the sidelines in Baltimore. On Sunday, Stewart cried and threw a temper tantrum after being yanked in Tampa.

Kissing? Crying? What is this, figure skating or the NFL?

The Pittsburgh Steelers' late-season meltdown took a bizarre turn Sunday when Stewart, angry at being benched, broke down in tears on the sidelines, then challenged Cowher by arguing, pointing his finger at him and screaming.

Losing does strange things to people -- and the 16-3 defeat was the Steelers' third in a row and fourth in five games -- but it was one of the few times an NFL player has ever cried in distress during a game.

"It makes me feel like a loser to sit down," Stewart said. "I hate to sit down."

If stewart were still a youngster, he might have been sent to his room without dinner. But after replacement Mike Tomczak quickly fumbled and threw an interception, Cowher sighed in resignation and sent Stewart back into the game.

But the slumping threw two more interceptions -- he finished with three, plus only 88 yards passing -- as the Steelers' streak without a touchdown reached nine quarters and an overtime.

The Steelers will remember this one as the Crying Game.

"We don't have the look of a championship team, do we?" running back Jerome Bettis said.

Stewart admittedly was overcome by the frustration of losing and his own poor play. One year after throwing for 21 touchdowns and running for 11 while leading the Steelers to the AFC Championship game, he has accounted for only 13 touchdowns (11 passing, two rushing) during an admittedly dreadful season.

"It's eating me up right now, to go through down times," Stewart said. "I'm trying to keep my composure, but this team is not used to losing. I always told myself I'd never go through the tough times a lot of quarterbacks do, but now I am and it's hard to handle."

Cowher, perhaps surprisingly, responded to his quarterback's eruption with calm rather than with angry words. He waved off Stewart, saying, "This isn't the time for it."

The

Steelers quarterback Kordell Stewart has had a hand in 13 TDs this season after accounting for 33 last season. (AP)

"He's a competitor, and he wasn't very happy with being pulled. It's probably the first time in his life he's been benched. But I was trying to find something to spark us and trying to find a way to win a football game. He's still growing up, and this is just part of it."

Stewart must have quickly gotten over the benching. He was seen smiling and posing for pictures with Buccaneers quarterback Trent Dilfer after the game.

The Steelers (7-7) haven't had so poor a record in December since they were 7-9 in 1991, yet still retain an outside shot at the postseason after New England's loss in St. Louis.

If Pittsburgh beats Cincinnati (2-12) and Jacksonville (10-4), and New England (8-6) and Tennessee (8-6) lose twice, the Steelers will make the playoffs for the seventh straight season.

But, right now, the playoffs seem light years away to the Steelers, who have scored only two offensive touchdowns in their last 4½ games and still don't have even half (20) as many TDs as they had last season (41).

"We can't worry about the playoffs because, right now, we're not a playoff team," said Bettis, who still hasn't reached 1,000 yards after rushing for 1,665 yards in 1997. "It's been our Achilles' heel all year...we go out there with great intentions, but we don't get it done."

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