History weighs heavily on the Steelers when they play at Cleveland Sunday, and not because of their long, renowned rivalry with the Browns.
Recent history, just 10 months old.
Three Rivers Stadium nearly filled to the brim with the largest crowd of the season on Nov. 14.
Fans were in a festive mood. The Steelers had won three in a row, coming off a Monday night victory against defending NFC champion Atlanta and a win at San Francisco. They were 5-3 at the midway point of the season, and they and their fans came to bury the hated Browns, an expansion team with a record of 1-8, a collection of castoffs and neophytes the Steelers vanquished, 43-0, in Cleveland.
They were shocked at the result. The Browns won, 16-15, when Phil Dawson kicked a 39-yard field goal on the game's last play. It would be the last Cleveland victory in a 2-14 season, but it was enough to help ruin the Steelers.
"I think from that point on it just crushed us," safety Lee Flowers said the other day.
That stunning turnabout sent the Steelers spinning to six consecutive losses and seven in their final eight games of 1999, and they're still trying to recover from it.
"We started questioning ourselves," center Roger Duffy said, "and we went down from there."
Cornerback Dewayne Washington called it their lowest point of the season.
"I'll tell you, that was a game we really needed to win," Washington said. "We beat them up there. We knew they had improved and gotten better, but it was a game we definitely should have won. Everybody got down. Everybody felt bad about it from the top down, even Mr. Rooney."
Losses followed at Tennessee and then another crusher at home to Cincinnati. The crowds at home dwindled from that Cleveland high of 58,213 to 39,428 by the time they played Dec. 26 against Carolina, their only victory during that stretch.
"Losing to teams we were supposed to beat really broke our back," Flowers said. "Cleveland was one of those teams we were supposed to beat and we didn't. And all the losses just started mounting up. Everything we did just got worse.
"It was just a bad year, man."
The losses to the Browns and Bengals were too much for Tom Donahoe, the Steelers' director of football operations, to take.
"Let me say this," Donahoe said in the middle of the locker room after the game against the Bengals, "I think we're more talented than Cleveland and Cincinnati."
Coach Bill Cowher seethed over that comment, but the bad football continued, and it did not abate in their opening loss this season to Baltimore, 16-0.
The Steelers went into that game against Cleveland last season fighting for a playoff berth, dueling Jacksonville and Tennessee at the top of the division. Today, they find themselves more closely aligned with the Browns and Bengals than with the top clubs in the AFC Central.
"To be honest," Washington said, "the way we've played the last two years, we can't say we're with Tennessee or Jacksonville right now, or probably Baltimore. They beat us pretty good.
"We have some work to do, but everybody's still optimistic about the things we can get done, we just have to get it done."
Another loss to the Browns might do for the Steelers what the previous one accomplished. After that, they must play defending AFC champ Tennessee at home and then play at Jacksonville and at the New York Jets. They could be staring at an 0-5 start.
Sunday's game does not have playoff implications, but it could have a large impact on the rest of the season and beyond for the Steelers.
"Obviously," Flowers said, "right now we need to go into every game as the underdog or [approach it as] that team is three times better than us, and we have to play our best game. You have to come out with your 'A' game. If you come out with an 'A-minus' or 'B-plus,' you're going to lose that game.
"Everything we do needs to be perfect. There's no such thing as a perfect game, but we have to try to be. It will make us a better team in long run.
"We can't take anything for granted right now, the way things are going on around here."
Those aren't the same Browns the Steelers engulfed 43-0 to open last season, and they've improved since they won here last November. On Sunday, they won in Cincinnati, 24-7, with two interceptions and seven sacks. Their defense has been fortified by the additions, among others, of ex-Steeler Orpheus Roye and rookie Courtney Brown in their line.
"They've improved themselves from a year ago with some of the acquisitions they made in the off-season," Coach Bill Cowher said.
Nevertheless, the Steelers are a 2 1/2-point favorite to beat the Browns.
The Steelers' defense came up with no turnovers and just one sack against Baltimore, and their running game produced just 30 yards.
"It would be a good way to get back on track," Duffy said. "We owe them one from last year.
"Right now, we just need to get a win. We did some good things [against the Ravens]. I know the fans don't want to hear it, but there were some good things done last week. If we do it more on a consistent basis, we'll have a good team this year."
Steelers say Browns loss led to downfall in '99 
