PITTSBURGH (AP) -- In their four-plus seasons of existence, the Jacksonville Jaguars have won a division title, played in the AFC championship game and rarely, if ever, looked like an expansion team.

That doesn't mean the Jaguars have fulfilled every objective set by demanding coach Tom Coughlin. They haven't played in the Super Bowl. And they haven't won in Pittsburgh.

Eight times the Jaguars and Steelers have met in a fast-nuturing rivalry that, with the Cleveland Browns exiled to the sidelines for three seasons, emerged as the most heated in the AFC Central. Each time, one or the other was in first place. Each time, the home team won.

"Each team has held court in their home," Steelers running back Jerome Bettis said. "It's always a big game, and the crowds really push you. It's always a game you can't afford to lose."

That's why Sunday's Jaguars-Steelers game at Three Rivers Stadium has a different feel to it -- and not just because the team with the home-field advantage is favored to lose.

For the first time in the series' brief history, another team, the Tennessee Titans (3-0), is in first place in the division, not the Jaguars (2-1) or the Steelers (2-1). The Titans saw to that last Sunday, winning 20-19 at Jacksonville after a last-minute interception thrown by Mark Brunell at the 3-yard line led him to question Coughlin's play call. Coughlin countered by saying Brunell should have thrown the ball away to keep the possibility of a field goal alive.

"If the play works, then it's the greatest play in football," Coughlin said. "You're a genius. If it didn't work, you're a bum. The greatest disappointment for me is not being able to create the kind of play that would have put us in the end zone."

There were rumblings of discontent, too, in Pittsburgh following a 29-10 loss to Seattle that saw the Steelers trail 26-0 in the third quarter. Kordell Stewart, who threw three interceptions in the first half, was benched for the third time in six games.

Stewart said he wasn't "overly excited" about being yanked, and the Steelers offense subsequently held a closed-door meeting to address its problems. Bettis and Stewart said the Steelers practiced poorly before Seattle and it reflected in their play, but that practices for Jacksonville went much smoother.

"The focus was there at all times," Stewart said.

And, of course, what would a Jaguars-Steelers game be without some verbal jousting?

In 1997, Steelers coach Bill Cowher kindled the rivalry by threatening to haul down a Jaguars defensive back returning an interception for a touchdown. This time, former Steelers defensive back Carnell Lake irritated his ex-teammates by suggesting that, ravaged by years of free agent defections, they needed 3-4 years of rebuilding.

"The Steelers are going to experience some tough times," Lake said.

They are already.

Remarkably, the Steelers are 0-3 at home since upsetting Jacksonville 30-15 on Nov. 22, losing to the Patriots and Bengals last season, and to Seattle. They haven't lost more than three straight at home since moving into Three Rivers in 1970; they lost their final six home games at Pitt Stadium in 1969 and the first home game at Three Rivers in 1970.

For a change, Cowher was unusually critical of his players, especially Stewart, after the Seattle loss. He said there wasn't much discussion at the team meeting Monday -- "I did the talking," he said -- because his players recognize it is essential to win if they are to contend in the division they've won five of the last six years.

But Coughlin countered by saying it's time for the Jaguars to win in Pittsburgh, where they have been outscored 105-42 in four games.

"For us to be the kind of team we want to be and believe we should be, you've got to go to the other guy's house and beat them," Coughlin said. "That wouldn't be any different had we won last weekend or not. We've still got to go in there and beat these people at home. That's a big issue, a big challenge."

Jaguars offensive tackle Leon Searcy, another former Steeler, said it's "a gigantic monkey on our backs, because we've never beaten them in Three Rivers."

Funny, now it's two teams that can't seem to win in Three Rivers.

"We can't afford to lose this game, because it's in our division," Bettis said. "We have to look at this game as if it's the end of the world."

JACKSONVILLE Season schedule and results

PITTSBURGH Season schedule and results

September 12 San Francisco W 41-3 September 19 @Carolina W 22-20 September 26 Tennessee L 19-20 October 3 @Pittsburgh 1:00pm ET October 11 @NY Jets 9:00pm ET October 17 Cleveland 1:00pm ET October 31 @Cincinnati 1:00pm ET November 7 @Atlanta 1:00pm ET November 14 Baltimore 4:05pm ET November 21 New Orleans 8:20pm ET November 28 @Baltimore 1:00pm ET December 2 Pittsburgh 8:20pm ET December 13 Denver 9:00pm ET December 19 @Cleveland 1:00pm ET December 26 @Tennessee 1:00pm ET January 2 Cincinnati 1:00pm ET

September 12 @Cleveland W 43-0 September 19 @Baltimore W 23-20 September 26 Seattle L 10-29 October 3 Jacksonville 1:00pm ET October 10 @Buffalo 1:00pm ET October 17 @Cincinnati 1:00pm ET October 25 Atlanta 9:00pm ET November 7 @San Francisco 4:15pm ET November 14 Cleveland 1:00pm ET November 21 @Tennessee 1:00pm ET November 28 Cincinnati 1:00pm ET December 2 @Jacksonville 8:20pm ET December 12 Baltimore 1:00pm ET December 18 @Kansas City 12:40pm ET December 26 Carolina 1:00pm ET January 2 Tennessee 4:15pm ET

Records source: STATS, Inc.

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