PITTSBURGH -- For a couple of minutes on Sunday, Bill Cowher nearly forgot he was no longer the Pittsburgh Steelers' coach.

Cowher, a TV analyst since resigning in Pittsburgh nearly two years ago, became animated on the air while watching Titans players Keith Bulluck and LenDale White stomp on a Steelers' Terrible Towel near the end of Tennessee's 31-14 victory Sunday.

The moment produced a flashback for Cowher, who was well-known for his competitiveness and respect-the-game mentality while coaching the Steelers from 1992 to 2006.

"That looks like a pregame talk the night before to me," Cowher said, his eyes lighting up and his voice rising. "If (we) meet in the postseason, I know what I'm pulling out the night before the game."

Cowher admonished White by saying, "You've got to learn ... I wouldn't do this, I wouldn't go there" and said Bulluck should know better because, "You are a veteran, Bulluck."

The Titans' lack of respect for the Steelers' symbol almost seemed enough to motivate Cowher to return to the sideline, if only for one game. Almost.

Cowher's implied message to the Titans: There's a way to win in the NFL and that wasn't it, and you might regret that little sideshow show should the Steelers return to Nashville for the AFC championship game in four weeks.

"I don't care, I don't care. ... That's just our stand," Bulluck said. "Anybody that's going to come through here in the playoffs, we plan to stomp them out."

Still, Cowher emphasized, "It's one game, it's one game," and the Titans' victory will have no effect should the teams stage a rematch.

Cowher was speaking from experience.

Three years ago, Bengals receiver T.J. Houshmandzadeh wiped his shoes with a Terrible Towel after Cincinnati won 38-31 in Pittsburgh in early December to all but clinch the AFC North. When the teams met again a month later in Cincinnati, the Steelers -- motivated by Houshmandzadeh's shoe-wiping display -- won 31-17 for the first of their three conference road playoff wins that led to the Super Bowl.

Afterward, a revved-up Cowher was caught by NFL Films mocking the Bengals' "Who Dey" chant in the locker room by yelling, "We Dey, We Dey, We Dey!"

This time, the Steelers (11-4) have more immediate concerns than the Titans' towel tromping after losing for the first time in six games. Despite coming back from a 10-0 deficit to lead 14-10 in the second half, the Steelers lacked the urgency and resiliency they displayed while beating Dallas and Baltimore in the final minutes the previous two weeks.

"We just couldn't get it going," linebacker Larry Foote said.

This might have been the game in which the Steelers' competitive, never-let-up schedule finally caught up to them -- a schedule that forced them to play the Giants, Colts, Chargers, Patriots, Cowboys, Ravens and Titans in the last two months.

"You never want to lose, but it is better to lose now than to get to the playoffs and lose," cornerback Deshea Townsend said. "If we do what we are supposed to do, we can beat anybody."

They'll have plenty of time to rest up and recuperate, with a less-than-meaningless game Sunday against the Browns (4-11) and a week off before their first playoff game Jan. 10 or 11. With coach Mike Tomlin expected to rest some starters Sunday, about all the Cleveland game will decide are the Steelers' season-ending statistics and whether they can win as many as 12 games for only the fourth time since 1979.

"Hopefully this lights a little fire under us and gets us going," quarterback Ben Roethlisberger said of losing in Tennessee.

The Steelers can become the first team since the 1970 NFL merger to lead the NFL in fewest yards, rushing yards, passing yards and points allowed, but Sunday's performance dropped them behind Tennessee in points allowed (223-211).

Despite giving up more than 300 yards for the first time this season, the Steelers still lead in total and passing defense and are No. 2 in rushing defense and fewest points allowed.

Numbers won't matter if they play the Titans (13-2) again, and -- given their past ability to draw motivation from perceived slights -- they may not need Cowher to come back and give that Saturday night pregame talk.

"Hopefully if we do see them again, we can right the wrong and not allow them to step on that towel," Townsend said. "We won't forget it. I will say that."