01:00 AM EST on Monday, January 24, 2005

BY SHALISE MANZA YOUNG
Journal Sports Writer

PITTSBURGH -- On the field with CBS' Greg Gumbel after the game, he brushed off the question. In the interview room, he seemed uncomfortable at the thought.

When he thought about it, Bill Belichick very nearly blushed.

With last night's 41-27 win over Pittsburgh in the AFC Championship Game, Belichick is now 9-1 as a head coach in postseason games. Only Vince Lombardi, the late Green Bay Packers coach who won the first two Super Bowls, has ever posted such a record of playoff success.

"Well, it's very flattering to be mentioned in the same breath as Vince Lombardi," Belichick said.

He paused, a bit flustered.

"The [Super Bowl] trophy is named after him. I don't think I'm deserving of that. I think that's really stretching it a little bit. I've been fortunate enough [that] I've got some outstanding players and guys that really play well together as a team and I'm fortunate to be coaching this team."

As he came into the postgame press conference last night, Belichick apologized to the assembled media for the delay in starting -- he had a trophy ceremony on the field, a celebratory moment with his players and likely national media commitments -- he smiled a bit.

His opening comment was to congratulate Bill Cowher, a colleague he clearly admires, and the rest of the Steelers on their season. And he talked about the effort of his team, both on the field last night, in the week of preparation for the Steelers, and over the course of the season up to this point.

"It's tough but very gratifying," to earn a chance to win a third Super Bowl title in four years, Belichick said. "This team has worked hard. These players, they come to work every day ready to work. We demand a lot of them. They lay it on the line. There's a lot of blood and sweat that's put out there and I'm happy that they have this kind of achievement to show for it.

"I've never been around a harder-working group of guys."

And while it is the players who are in the game, their decisions and moves leading to points scored and turnovers gained, it is Belichick and his staff -- defensive coordinator Romeo Crennel and offensive coordinator Charlie Weis -- who come up with the game plan each week.

And in the current NFL, no one can find weaknesses and idiosyncracies in opposing teams better than Belichick.

It is the attention paid to every detail, quarterback Tom Brady said, that makes the difference.

"Since the minicamps and training camp, we go over a lot of stuff I don't know that a lot of teams go over. We go over a lot of situational things that end up coming up in games and ultimately decide some games," he said. "He's got great attention to detail and he doesn't ever really let us get away with everything. We didn't have a great practice on Wednesday [and] he let us know it. You would have thought we were 0-16 the way he spoke to us. It gets everyone in the right frame of mind.

"He's a tremendous coach."

In two weeks, Belichick has a chance to surpass the great Lombardi and stand alone as the NFL's most successful postseason coach.