DENVER — Never mind the 13-3 regular-season record, the first-round bye, the pummeling of the Patriots in their first home playoff game since John Elway called it quits.

After their stunning 34-17 loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers in the AFC title game Sunday, the Denver Broncos feel like failures — especially those players who won Super Bowl rings with Elway.

"Bottom line is that there were a lot of guys who were brought in here to win a Super Bowl," linebacker Keith Burns said. "You can pick out a few bright spots on the season, but to me it's a complete failure. Anything less than hoisting that Lombardi Trophy is a failure."

Receiver Rod Smith also found it difficult to look on the bright side.

"What's the difference? You don't make the playoffs or you make the playoffs and lose, it's all the same," Smith suggested after Denver's first loss at home all season. "If you don't win the whole thing, it's a failure. I'm not going to take anything away from them; they played a great game. But this is the way I live my life. If I don't get the prize, it's a failure."

The Broncos simply found little consolation in their best run in the post-Elway era.

"We got to where we wanted to get, we got the first-round bye, we beat up New England pretty good," defensive end Trevor Pryce said. "We can take solace in that, but honestly to do what we did the first week in the playoffs and to play like we did today, it's not pretty."

Wide receiver Ashley Lelie said it was difficult to see the good through the fog of all that happened Sunday, when the Broncos were dominated in every phase.

"We can go around saying we're AFC West champs," Lelie halfheartedly suggested, knowing that doesn't have quite the same, well, ring to it.

Jake Plummer was sacked three times and turned the ball over four times after throwing just seven interceptions all season.

"We're hurting from this one," Plummer said. "We didn't want it to end this early. Obviously, we had a good season. But in the end, only one team is happy. We're not that team."

After getting blown out of the RCA Dome by Indianapolis in the wild-card round the last two years, the Broncos looked like Super Bowl darlings after handing Tom Brady his first postseason loss last week and then watching the Steelers take care of the Colts the next day.

"We picked a bad day to have a bad game," kick returner Charlie Adams said. "Now we have to live with it."

Playing from behind, Plummer reverted to his old ways, turning the ball over on the ground twice and in the air twice, and Denver's two-headed running game was rendered useless by a three-TD halftime deficit.

The defense that forced five turnovers a week earlier failed to get any takeaways despite having its hands on the ball three times on Pittsburgh's first possession.

Champ Bailey, whose 100-yard interception return last week buried the Patriots, had the angle on an interception that would have given the Broncos a quick 7-0 lead. But he mistimed his jump and Hines Ward cradled the high deflection in his arms instead.

Two plays later, linebacker Ian Gold recovered Willie Parker's fumble at the Denver 45, but Pittsburgh successfully challenged the call.

Then, rookie Domonique Foxworth juggled a long pass in the end zone. But before he could come down with it, receiver Nate Washington ripped at the ball and it fell out of bounds.

"Those are the plays that we've been making all season, we didn't make them today," Foxworth said.

The Steelers settled for Jeff Reed's 47-yard field goal and never gave up the lead.

Blitzing on the next series, Joey Porter forced Plummer to cough up the ball and Larry Foote recovered at the Broncos 41, leading to Cedrick Wilson's 12-yard TD catch and a 10-0 lead.

Trailing by two touchdowns late in the first half, Plummer lobbed a terrible pass into the flat that was easily intercepted by Ike Taylor, setting up another Pittsburgh touchdown that made it 24-3 at the half.

Plummer had two more turnovers in the fourth quarter.

A few Broncos did find the silver lining to their 14-4 season.

"We have a very good team here and we're proud of what we accomplished," tight end Jeb Putzier said.

Safety John Lynch, who watched a potential interception bounce away from him in the fourth quarter, concurred.

"You can't forget all the good that came out of this season," he said. "We did some outstanding things. Now, all you can do is learn from this and get better."

Lessons learned are never easy, however.

"We're going to have to marinate on this one for a while," safety Nick Ferguson said, "and then we'll have to move on."

And try again next season to prove they can be great without No. 7.