Pittsburgh ? The Pittsburgh Steelers have flopped in the playoffs so many times perhaps it’s not a question of whether it will happen again, but when.

There was the embarrassing 21-point loss in January 1993 to Buffalo, only six days after the Bills were drained physically and mentally while staging the greatest comeback in NFL playoff history against Houston.

There was the inexplicable home-field loss in the AFC title game in January 1995, when the Chargers were offended because the Steelers had rehearsed a Super Bowl video.

There was the Steelers’ defense being stared down at home by a supposedly too-old John Elway in the conference championship game in January 1998, and again by the supposedly too-young Tom Brady and Drew Bledsoe only last January.

So many Januarys, so many failures, so many unfulfilled seasons. No AFC team has won more regular-season games since coach Bill Cowher was hired in 1992, and no team has lost more big games in the playoffs.

“Oh, yeah,” receiver Hines Ward said when asked if it seems everyone outside their locker room anticipates another fold-up act this month. “Nobody’s talking about us. Everybody’s talking about the Raiders and the Jets, and we just keep winning.”

Even Steelers fans now seem to expect losing in the postseason as their destiny. After the Browns opened up a 12-point lead with 101/2 minutes remaining in Sunday’s wild-card game, at least one-quarter of the fans streamed to the exits, missing one of the greatest playoff comebacks in team history.

Afterward, Steelers players only shook their heads when asked about the disbelievers.

Pittsburgh quarterbacks Tommy Maddox, left, and Kordell Stewart practice on Thursday. The Steelers play Tennessee in an AFC playoff game Saturday at Nashville, Tenn.

Rookie receiver Antwaan Randle El pointed out that quarterback Tommy Maddox has led fourth-quarter comebacks from double-digit deficits in successive weeks.

“No one should ever leave when that man is operating,” he said.

Maybe that’s why the Steelers are heading off to Saturday’s divisional game at Tennessee with more confidence than might be expected from a team that hasn’t won a road playoff game since 1989, when Chuck Noll was coach. They are 0-2 on the road under Cowher, losing to Kansas City in 1994 and to New England in 1997.

They have won the last two weeks — against Baltimore (34-31) in their final regular season game, then against Cleveland (36-33) — despite giving up a combined 64 points and 717 yards passing. Instead of finding ways to lose, they’re finding ways to win.

And they go to Tennessee knowing they’ve never lost to one of their current or former divisional opponents in the playoffs.

They’re 3-0 against Tennessee, back when they were known as the Houston Oilers.

Backup quarterback Charlie Batch, who played on nothing but losers in Detroit, had a sense early on that this team could go deep into the playoffs.

The Steelers were 13-3 last season but opened 2002 with losses to New England (30-14) and Oakland (30-17). They overcome those setbacks and lost only once in a span of eight games.

“I’d been 0-3, 0-4 in Detroit and problems did occur,” Batch said. “We were 0-2 here and it was like, ‘Well, OK, no sweat, we can correct things.’ It was totally different. There was no sense of panic.”

Even if they beat the Titans, the Steelers will be at home for the AFC championship game only if the Jets knock off the top-seeded Raiders in Oakland.

“We’ve got plenty of motivation,” running back Jerome Bettis said. “This is really a defining game for us.”