There's no place like home.

But if the Steelers are to make this postseason a memorable one for their fans, they'll be doing a lot of road work.

Three playoff games, all as the visiting team — that's the task facing Bill Cowher's squad if it is to play in Super Bowl XL in Detroit on Feb. 5.

The first step is a third meeting of the season with divisional rival Cincinnati at 4:30 p.m. Sunday.

Anything is possible in the NFL's postseason, but one thing is certain: History is not on Pittsburgh's side.

The only other team to win three road playoff games en route to the Super Bowl was the 1985 Patriots.

That season, New England defeated the Jets, Raiders and Dolphins on the road before getting pummeled 46-10 by Chicago in Super Bowl XX.

And Pittsburgh's history of road playoff encounters yields just a 4-9 record, including an 0-3 mark since Cowher took over in 1992.

Granted, two of those losses under Cowher came in overtime: to Kansas City (27-24) to end the 1993 season and to Tennessee (34-31) in 2002.

But a loss to the Bengals on Sunday, even if it comes in overtime, would have to be considered a disappointment after Pittsburgh was one game away from the Super Bowl last year.

Even though the game will be played at Cincinnati's Paul Brown Stadium, the Steelers (11-5) currently stand as three point favorites.

There's no doubt that head coach Marvin Lewis has planted the seed for success in the Queen City. The Bengals (11-5) should be a consistent contender in the AFC North.

But the Steelers certainly will bring more playoff experience into the contest and that should have an effect on the game at some point.

Pittsburgh is making its fourth playoff appearance in the last five years, while most of the Bengals' players will be playing in their first postseason game.

As a franchise, Cincinnati has not been to the playoffs since 1990, when Boomer Esiason was the quarterback and he was throwing to guys named Rodney Holman, Tim McGee and Eddie Brown.

During Cowher's tenure in the Steel City, his team has been on the other side of the experience factor.

Steelers fans will recall the playoff game the team played in Cowher's first season as coach.

In 1992, Pittsburgh won the AFC Central title and home field advantage with an 11-5 record and hosted Buffalo in the divisional round.

The Bills were coming off an emotional high, fighting back from 32 points down to beat Houston 41-38 the previous week.

It was the fifth season in a row that the Bills were in the playoffs. The Steelers, on the other hand, were in postseason play for the first time in three years.

Sure, there were still key players on Pittsburgh's roster who played on the 1989 team that was one point away from playing in the AFC Championship Game. But many of the big names in 1992 — Barry Foster, Eric Green, Neil O'Donnell, Ernie Mills, Jeff Graham, Darren Perry, Carlton Haselrig — were playing in their first playoff game.

The result was a 24-3 loss to Buffalo, which would go on to play in its third consecutive Super Bowl.

The Bills might have been the better team, but they certainly weren't 21 points better than Pittsburgh that year. The difference in playoff experience was definitely a factor in that game.

And Cincinnati's current stars — players like Carson Palmer, Chad Johnson and Rudi Johnson — as good as they are, when it comes to the playoffs, they are essentially rookies.

So the Steelers have the edge in postseason-game experience. But they will need much more than that if they are to pull out their first road-playoff win in 16 years.

And if Pittsburgh is good enough to win on Sunday, its reward will be a trip to Indianapolis (14-2) the following weekend.

But first things first.