PITTSBURGH (AP) -The Pittsburgh Steelers didn't seem to start their season until it was nearly finished.

Bothered by distractions, beaten up by injuries and looking lost for half a season without a leader like Jerome Bettis to guide them, the returning Super Bowl champions didn't begin playing like a championship team until it was too late.

``A lot of things went wrong,'' wide receiver Hines Ward said.

Maybe they experienced a case of the dreaded Super Bowl hangover. Maybe Ben Roethlisberger's motorcycle crash and coach Bill Cowher's uncertain future caused them to lose focus. Or maybe they simply forgot how to win.

Whatever it was, no NFL championship team of recent vintage looked as off its game or as ungrounded as the Steelers did during a miserable first half of a season in which they went 2-6. They rallied to win six of their final eight, but that surge only got them back to .500 at 8-8.

Curiously, it was the same record the 1980 Steelers had the season after that team won the fourth and last of its Super Bowl championships. The difference is many of those Steelers were nearing the end of their careers, while this team seemed to be at its peak.

``It feels horrible,'' defensive end Brett Keisel said. ``I felt like teams we played gave us their best shot and maybe we didn't give them our best shot, and that's why we are where we are.''

For some reason, the Steelers never found the rhythm and consistency they had while going 26-6 the previous two seasons.

Roethlisberger was the most visible example, following up the unprecedented success of his first two seasons - when he won 27 of 31 starts and a Super Bowl - with a belly flop of a third season.

Slowed by an appendectomy that he needed four days before the opener, Roethlisberger looked more like a rookie than he did as a true rookie in 2004. His 23 interceptions led the NFL and were three more than he had in his first two seasons combined.

His misadventures, poor decisions and lack of big-play ability set the tone for a team that uncharacteristically led the NFL in turnovers most of the season. The Steelers repeatedly gave away games they could have won, including a 41-38 overtime loss at Atlanta and an inexplicable 20-13 defeat at Oakland, which won only one other game.

``I feel a lot of it is my fault, and we could have played better if I played better,'' said Roethlisberger, who had seven interceptions before he threw his first touchdown pass.

Cowher also became the very kind of distraction he himself hates by buying a luxury home in North Carolina, where his family lived this season, and failing to sign a contract extension.

The Steelers also seemed to lack the drive and attention to detail they had in the past, as was especially evident on special teams. They were terrible returning and defending punts and kickoffs nearly all season, and it repeatedly cost them field position and, ultimately, games.

``A lot of games, Oakland, Jacksonville (a 9-0 loss), I still felt we were the better team but you don't come away with a win, and that came and bit us hard in the end,'' Keisel said.

The only consistency came in the running game. Willie Parker ran for 1,494 yards, the third-best total in team history, and he had a pair of 200-yard games.

Defensively, the Steelers didn't allow a 100-yard rusher all season yet frequently gave up the kind of big plays they rarely yielded in recent seasons.

``It's how we were losing,'' linebacker Joey Porter said. ``Turnovers were at an all-time high. Special teams weren't playing the way we can play and, on defense, we'd play good but we'd give up a big play, especially early in season, and it's tough to rebound from that.''

The Steelers rarely undergo major offseason overhauls, and there probably won't be one

since most of their core players are signed. That doesn't mean there won't be big changes made.

If Cowher resigns, the Steelers will search for a new coach for only the second time since 1969. Team chairman Dan Rooney couldn't have done much better with his last two choices in Chuck Noll and Cowher, but this would be a critical hire.

Also, center Jeff Hartings is expected to retire and punter Chris Gardocki almost certainly won't be brought back. A kicker may be brought in to challenge Jeff Reed. The Steelers will also look for another wide receiver (yes, again) and a cornerback (yes, again) in a draft in which they will choose 15th on the first round.

``Every year is not going to be a perfect year and a storybook season,'' Roethlisberger said. ``We have to try to improve and get better.''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.