DENVER (AP) - Six weeks ago, the Pittsburgh Steelers were losing and failing.

Now, they're the favorites to win the Super Bowl.

In early December, the Steelers were 7-5 and on a three-game losing streak. Quarterback Ben Roethlisberger's injured thumb was threatening to derail his season and many doubted the team could even make the playoffs.

On Sunday, Vegas oddsmakers made the Steelers a 3 1/2- to 4-point favorite to beat the Seattle Seahawks in the Super Bowl in Detroit in two weeks.

Since losing 38-31 in Cincinnati on Dec. 4, the Steelers won seven straight - their last five on the road, including Sunday's 34-17 defeat of the Denver Broncos to win the AFC championship.

They did it in dominating fashion, taking a 3-0 lead with 4:11 remaining in the first quarter and never allowing Denver or its fans back in the game.

But Jerome Bettis said Pittsburgh wasn't so confident after that loss to the Bengals dropped Bill Cowher's Steelers to 7-5.

``Coach Cowher sensed that everybody was a little bit nervous, and he brought us in and calmed everybody down and showed us, `Hey, it's one game at a time. Let's just win one game and see what happen,''' Bettis said. ``That was the philosophy from that point until now. It's been just about one game.''

Pittsburgh seemed to thrive on being the underdog during its winning streak. The Steelers are underdogs no more.

``We had nothing to lose,'' Roethlisberger said. ``No one believed in us, but us.''

---

JAKE'S MISTAKES: Jake Plummer was praised for protecting the ball this season and cutting down on the turnovers that hounded him for years.

That was before Sunday's AFC championship game against the Pittsburgh Steelers.

The Broncos quarterback lost two fumbles and threw two interceptions in the Steelers' 34-17 victory.

Plummer threw seven interceptions and lost two fumbles during the regular season. But his mistakes were costly against Pittsburgh.

His first fumble late in the first quarter led to Pittsburgh's first touchdown and a 10-0 lead. He was intercepted by Ike Taylor in the second quarter, and the giveaway set up a 38-yard scoring drive that gave the Steelers a 24-3 lead.

``The interceptions were bad,'' Plummer said. ``They capitalized on some turnovers and put us into a hole.''

Plummer was playing with a chest cold, but said that only affected him when he was trying to scramble.

``I won't use that as an excuse,'' he said. ``I tried to make some plays, but when they are playing deep like that, it's tough going.''

Pittsburgh linebacker Joey Porter thought Plummer could be easy to rattle, especially if the Steelers were ahead.

``In the past, I've seen this crowd turn on him,'' Porter said. ``I knew he was just a bad play away before they were turning on him. If we forced him into making some bad plays, he was going to get down on himself. That was the whole game plan and it ended up working.''

---

BLOWN-OUT BRONCOS: When the Denver Broncos lose in the playoffs, they tend to lose big.

Sunday's loss marked the fourth time in their last five playoff games that Denver has lost by at least 17 points.

The Broncos managed only a field goal in a 21-3 wild-card loss to the Baltimore Ravens in 2000, then were outscored 90-34 by the Indianapolis Colts in wild-card games in 2004 and '05.

Pittsburgh started the trend, which dates back almost three decades, by beating Denver 33-10 in a divisional playoff game in 1978.

But Denver's most embarrassing blowouts - by far - occurred in the Super Bowl.

In 1988, the Broncos took an early 10-0 lead against the Redskins, only to watch Washington score 35 points in the second quarter in a 42-10 defeat. Two years later, Denver lost 55-10 to the San Francisco 49ers.

---

HOME-FIELD ADVANTAGE?: The Broncos may have won four previous AFC championship games in Denver, but the Steelers were on a roll on the road Sunday.

The Steelers became the first team to win three away games to make it to the Super Bowl since the 1985 New England Patriots. They also handed the Broncos their third loss in the playoffs at home in 15 tries.

Pittsburgh beat the Broncos 24-17 in a 1984 divisional playoff game in Denver at the old Mile High Stadium.

---

FOOTE HOMECOMING: With all the hype surrounding Jerome Bettis' chance to finish his career in the Super Bowl in his hometown of Detroit, few have mentioned that linebacker Larry Foote also will be playing close to home.

Foote wants to keep it that way, since he expects to get plenty of calls asking for favors.

``I ain't got no tickets,'' he said laughing. ``And I lost my cell phone last night.''Copyright © 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. The information contained in the AP News report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press.