The storylines for the 2005 Steelers were plentiful. From having to bounce back from a three-game losing streak late in the season, to being on the road for the entire postseason and then being motivated to get beloved running back Jerome Bettis to the Super Bowl in his hometown of Detroit, Michigan in what would be his final NFL season.

It was also a group that was as close as can be, a tight locker room that could be felt by everyone in the organization, starting first and foremost with Coach Bill Cowher.

"It was special. It was a really special team," said Cowher. "It might not have been our best team during my time there, but it was our closest team. I think you realize in this business that the chemistry that you have on the team is more important than the talent that you have.

"We had good players. We had great players. We had a very special team. They were close to one another. They played for one another."

That closeness would be needed when things started to go south for the team.

"We were on the verge of not making the playoffs," recalled linebacker James Farrior. "We were having a great season leading up to that, we were even coming off a 15-1 record the year before in 2004.

"Everyone thought things were good and then we hit that three-game losing streak and that shook everybody up."

The Steelers were 7-2 heading into Week 11 of the season, on a roll and feeling great about their prospects.

And then they went through a three-game losing streak, dropping games to the Baltimore Ravens, Indianapolis Colts and Cincinnati Bengals, leaving the season in doubt with a 7-5 record.

There was some disappointment, some frustration.

But Cowher wouldn't let it take over. Instead, he took over. In a team meeting he gave his players a reset, giving them a new outlook.

"We had been underachieving," said Bettis. "Guys were a little bit down on their luck, not confident. He basically erased everything on the board in the team meeting room. We used to have a week-by-week synopsis of what we've done and the good and the bad. He erased all of it and told us it's a one game season.

"He did a great job of focusing us on that next game. It was all about it being a one game season for the rest of the year."

It wasn't just Cowher, though. It was the veteran leadership on the team that helped pull together what Cowher was preaching, making sure everyone brought in and did their part.

"We had so many leaders on that team," said running back Willie Parker, who was only in his second season in 2005. "What made it a special group is we always held each other accountable. The leaders were telling you what to do when you're in the building, following teammates in the gym, the cold tub, in the training room. They were leading each and every week."

And that leadership paid dividends.

The Steelers went on to win the next four games, the already tight team grower even tighter with each and every moment.

"When we hit that low point around midseason where we weren't really in the mix and we put ourselves in a bind, we knew something had to change," said guard Alan Faneca. "It's one of the best things Coach Cowher ever did. On a week-to-week basis he rallied the team and put the entire organization, everybody in the building, pointed at one singular mission of winning the next game. And sometimes what it took to win that next game changed from week to week. It wasn't always the same, but he got everybody on the same mission every single week.

"He pointed us in right direction, got everybody focused, realizing that if it's going to happen, it's got to be now. It was going to take making a change, everybody doing a little extra and let's see where this thing can go.

"We were always so tight knit. There was a kindred spirit. That camaraderie, that brotherhood that's in the locker room is worth two or three wins a year. It gets you through those tight games. What we went through, it brought us together even more and helped us fight through it. There are lot of intangibles, but it's really the brotherhood of leaning on the guys next to you and realizing what that person means to you and what this whole thing means to us all collectively."

It was leaning on each other, battling for each other, and taking Cowher's approach of a one-game season that made all the difference.

With four games remaining on the regular season schedule, there was no room for error.

And the Steelers took that to heart, winning four straight and earning a Wild Card playoff berth, going on to win three straight playoff games on the road to catapult them into Super Bowl XL.

"While it shook us up, it brought us closer together," said Farrior. "Once we had our backs against the wall, we knew if we lost another game, it would be over, and that is when we played different, a lot better.

"It was a magical journey. From the beginning of the season when we started off well, to where we hit a low point in the season when we didn't think we were going to make the playoffs, and then we had some dramatic games in the playoffs and the Super Bowl.

"The culmination of all of those things was special."

The setting for Super Bowl XL against the Seattle Seahawks was Detroit, Michigan, but you would have thought you were in Pittsburgh with the sea of Terrible Towels that took over Ford Field.

It was a homecoming for Bettis, who thought about retiring the year before, but was convinced to play another season by quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, who promised he would get him to the Super Bowl in his hometown of Detroit.

As the team was ready to take the field for introductions, linebacker Joey Porter pulled Bettis to the front of the team. As the Steelers were introduced, Porter held out his arms, holding back the rest of the players, while Bettis headed out onto the field alone.

"Jerome meant so much not only to the organization, but also to us as our captain, our leader, our big brother," said Porter. "We wanted to pay respect to him. We wanted to let him run out first. It would be the last time he did it, the last time he would do his trademark run out there. It was a no-brainer to have him do it. He got us all fired up."

And fired up they were.

"It took me back to being a little kid running around in my front yard with my Nerf football, playing with my buddies and you're pretending to be in all of those moments," said Faneca. "You think back to playing with your friends in your version of the Super Bowl, and you catch the Nerf football in your driveway and keep your toes in bounds, and you score the winning touchdown.

"Standing on the sidelines before the game, it brought me back to those moments. The Super Bowl was an accumulation of not just that one season, but a few seasons. It was a lifetime dream for me. It took me back to the first time I put on pads in peewee ball. It was everything I and my teammates had been through tied into one emotion. The flashbulbs going off at kickoff, just soaking in the moment and the atmosphere and your family there enjoying it.

"It was surreal."

There were chills, there were emotions, and there were dreams coming true.

"It was very emotional," said running back Willie Parker. "It was like a dream come true. It was like a roller coaster of feelings. It was up, it was down, it was left, it was right. I was so numb. It was just amazing.

"Then to hear the National Anthem and watch all the camera flashes going off for kickoff. We were meant to be there. Nobody was going to deny us that moment."

And while they tried, the Seahawks weren't able to deny the Steelers, even if there were a few tough moments while excitement was at a fever pitch for the Steelers, including for rookie tight end Heath Miller, who on the first offensive play of the game was flagged for a false start.

"The beginning of the game was so cool, all the excitement and everything," recalled Miller. "And then I jumped offsides on the first play."

He wasn't the only one. The Super Bowl jitters hit a few players early, until everyone settled right in.

The Seahawks jumped out to an early 3-0 lead, but it would be the only lead they would see. After a slow start the Steelers got on the board late in the first half when Roethlisberger capped an 11-play, 59-yard drive with a one-yard dive for a touchdown and a 7-3 lead heading into halftime.

The Steelers offense caught fire to start the second half when Parker broke free and took off for a 75-yard touchdown run, still the longest run in Super Bowl history, to extend the lead to 14-3.

"The Willie Parker touchdown run at the beginning of the second half was a really, really big play for us," said Farrior. "That sparked us and gave us a little bit of momentum. I think we fed off that from that point on and we didn't look back.

"We knew he was fast, and we knew he had it in him, but that play was magical the way it worked out. He hit the hole so well and had such great vision. Once he got into the open space, I knew nobody would be able to catch him."

The Seahawks did keep the game close after Kelly Herndon intercepted Roethlisberger at the four-yard line and returned it 76 yards to the Steelers 20-yard line. Matt Hasselbeck hit Jerramy Stevens for a 16-yard touchdown to cut the lead to 14-10.

The mindset of not being denied kept the Steelers rolling.

Cornerback Ike Taylor thwarted a go-ahead effort by the Seahawks when he intercepted Hasselbeck in the fourth quarter.

"I had an opportunity for an interception earlier in the game, and I dropped the first one," said Taylor. "I had one in the first quarter, and I dropped it. Not this time."

Four plays later the Steelers reached into their bag of tricks and a sweet gadget play sealed the game for them. Roethlisberger pitched the ball to Parker, who handed it off to receiver Antwaan Randle El. Randle El then let it sail to receiver Hines Ward, who galloped into the end zone for a 43-yard touchdown and 21-10 lead, which would secure the Steelers their fifth Super Bowl in franchise history.

And they fulfilled their mission of sending Bettis out a Super Bowl champion.

"When Ben Roethlisberger gave me the ball and said that he had made good on the promise that he was going to get me there, that was a special moment for me," said Bettis. "And then the last moment was holding the trophy up and saying that the last stop for 'The Bus' was here, winning the Super Bowl. That was the best sendoff I could ever get.

"It was a really magical moment. To be able to hoist the trophy up and be champions, that was special."

As the confetti fell at Ford Field, and players celebrated by kissing the Lombardi Trophy, the feeling was surreal.

"That was everything I dreamed of," said Parker. "You want to make it super special with your teammates. Then you want to have your family enjoy that moment as well.

"It's a feeling of relief, of excitement, with the confetti coming down knowing you're the best in the world. It's just a dream come true. I'll never forget that confetti flying everywhere and picking up pieces of it and putting it in your scrapbook.

"It was a dream come true."