Oct 14, 2002 By Commentary Mike Ciarochi 3 min read

CINCINNATI – Steelers coach Bill Cowher earned his paycheck, but he started earning it well in advance of Sunday’s 34-7 win over the Bengals. He began earning it at a team meeting Saturday night. In all fairness, though, the Steelers really ought to pack up a game ball and ship it off to Hollywood. Address it to Peter Finch.

Because it was Finch, through Cowher, who motivated the Steelers to their lopsided win Sunday.

It was Finch, playing the part of an old network news anchor in the 1976 movie, “Network,” who belted out the sentence that drove the Steelers to such heights at Paul Brown Stadium.

Setting the tone is the best way to describe what Cowher accomplished and he did it in a non-football way that turned out to be very football-like. He made his players mad.

“He played us a film clip from a 1976 movie,” related wide receiver Hines Ward, who had to ask around even to come up with the name of it.

Finch won an Academy Award for his role in the film, perhaps in large part because of the line all of America remembered from the film.

“I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take it anymore.”

In the film, Finch called on Americans across the land to go to their window, open it and shout that sentence out the window.

In Cowher’s case, he simply wanted his players to play mad. He made the point that no one really cares about the particulars of any Steelers loss, only that it was a loss.

By meeting’s end, the Steelers were in a frenzy, according to Ward.

“It was kind of strange,” Ward said. “Most of these players weren’t even born when that movie came out.”

“I had to hold onto Hines,” chimed in Mark Bruener. “He was standing on a chair and looked ready to play right then and there.”

“Everyone was standing and screaming when that meetinge ended,” Ward said. “It was the perfect clip for us to see. It was a message we needed to hear.”

In explaining his message to the media after the game, Cowher was calm, probably not the image he portrayed to his team the evening before.

“Nobody likes losing,” Cowher said. “At some point, you have to get mad and say enough’s enough.”

Or “I’m mad as hell and I’m not going to take it anymore.”

Where the Steelers were prior to Sunday’s game was not a pretty place. Coming off a 32-29 loss at New Orleans, the Steelers were 1-3. Nothing was going right.

“There comes a point where you either throw up your hands and quit or you have to do something about it,” Cowher said. “Sometimes, part of that is getting mad.”

Asked if he thought his team played mad against the Bengals, Cowher proudly proclaimed, “I’d like to think so.”

He made an impression on just about every player in the room, perhaps none as profound as the impression he made on Ward.

“In all of my years here, I’ve never seen coach Cowher use a film clip in his Saturday evening speech to the team,” Ward said. “It was inspiring and the message really hit home with us.

“Let’s be mad. You play better when you’re mad.”

That may not be true for every team, but for the Steelers, it worked.

Sports editor Mike Ciarochi may be reached at mciarochi@heraldstandard.com.