By ED BOUCHETTE, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

The rallying cry began last week and will thunder through this one as well: Remember 2005!

Now that the Steelers failed to overtake Baltimore for the AFC North title and the No. 2 seed and first-round playoff pass that went with it, they have and will recall that they successfully took this route before.

Hines Ward has no plans to retire after this season and said if he does not play for the Steelers in 2012 it will not be his choice.

Ward has no special plans to take a moment to relish what could be his final game Saturday at Heinz Field in a dazzling, record-setting 14-year career.

PITTSBURGH - New England's Wes Welker has set a blistering pace for NFL receivers with 740 yards after five games, one that has him far in front of the pack this season and on the way to obliterating Jerry Rice's single-season record.

No one, it seems, can catch him on the field or on the stats sheet.

Or can they?

The only team the past 20 years who had that Super Bowl loser thing down right was Buffalo. They lost the Super Bowl in the 1990 season, returned to lose in '91, returned to lose in '92 and returned to lose in '93.

The Bills have not returned to the Super Bowl since, and no losing team since then has returned to try again the next year. Next up: The Pittsburgh Steelers.

Long before he became U.S. Ambassador to Ireland, Dan Rooney was a diplomat. Seen as a voice of reason by both sides, he helped settle strikes in the NFL in 1982 and '87, and later became a confidant of players union head Gene Upshaw.

Poorly played football, more injuries, young men losing their chance forever to make it in the game. Those are the body blows the NFL took when a court affirmed the owners' right to continue to lock out their players at least into June, says noted agent Ralph Cindrich.

And those negative outcomes will happen even if the lockout ends before training camps open in August, he said.

The working conditions when the players union did not exist in the National Football League were quite a contrast to what they have today.

The greatest NFL draft that history forgot took place in Pittsburgh 40 years ago. It long has been overshadowed by the greatest draft ever, the one that produced four Hall of Famers for the Steelers in 1974.

Cornerbacks get no respect. The NFL keeps passing rules that impede them from doing their jobs. The game makes them run backward. They hardly are noticed unless something bad happens. And personnel directors refuse to make them elite draft picks.

The 2005 season turned out even better than Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger imagined, and his first Super Bowl victory at season's end wasn't the only one that involved a ring.