CINCINNATI — Santonio Holmes dived into the black-and-orange end zone, finishing off a wild game, a rival's season and, perhaps, a coach's career in Pittsburgh.

A fitting finish for everyone involved.

Holmes' 67-yard touchdown catch in overtime gave the Steelers a 23-17 victory Sunday that eliminated the Cincinnati Bengals from playoff contention and gave Steelers coach Bill Cowher a reason to smile while he weighs his feelings in the next few days.

Cowher hasn't decided whether to return for a 16th season as the Steelers' coach. All he'd say afterward was that he knows how he's leaning, but wants more time to sort it out.

"I want to make sure I'm thinking clearly about it," Cowher said. "I'm not burned out. When I make a decision, it's a well-thought-out one. I'm not a hindsight kind of guy."

He led the Steelers to a Super Bowl title last season, the highlight of his career. Injuries and misfortune contributed to a 2-6 start that ultimately doomed Pittsburgh to an 8-8 finish and also-ran status.

Afterward, his players tried to get an answer to the question that all of Pittsburgh is asking.

"Today was the first time anybody put him on the spot," said linebacker Joey Porter, who kissed Cowher after a win early in the season. "I asked him. He said he doesn't know. We love the guy regardless."

The Bengals (8-8) know they're in for a miserable offseason.

With three games left in the season, they were first in line for a wild card berth. They lost their last three, one of the biggest meltdowns in franchise history.

A bad snap on an extra point with 46 seconds left set up a 24-23 loss in Denver a week ago, knocking them back into the pack of playoff contenders. On Sunday, Shayne Graham missed a 39-yard field goal that would have won the game with 8 seconds left in regulation.

Then, on the third play of overtime, Holmes finished them off.

"We're a very average football team," said Carson Palmer, who threw two touchdown passes in the fourth quarter to rally the Bengals. "We have the potential to be a good team. We should be 10-6."

About four hours after their loss, the Bengals had even more reason to feel bad. Denver's loss to San Francisco meant that Cincinnati would have gotten a wild-card berth had Graham made that field goal.

"It was the weirdest feeling," Palmer said. "It was frustrating and depressing. You think that wasn't what we were working for, but that's what average teams do."

The Steelers know why they finished with a break-even mark.

The problems started in the offseason when quarteraback Ben Roethlisberger had a motorcycle accident. He later had an appendectomy and a concussion that contributed to that 2-6 start. The running game was erratic, and the Steelers lost their knack for gritting out wins.

They got some of their edge back in the second half of the season, but it was too late. By the time Holmes reached the end zone to end their season on an upbeat note, they had been reduced to celebrating another team's misery.

"That's why everyone was smiling and happy," running back Willie Parker said. "If we don't go, they don't go."

For the 15th time in the last 16 years, the Bengals aren't going to the playoffs. This failure was the worst of them all.

Coach Marvin Lewis and several team leaders mentioned selfishness as one of the things holding them back — players more concerned than what needs to be done to get the franchise to make the playoffs consistently.

"Now, I'm back to eight wins," said tackle Willie Anderson, a 13-year veteran. "I just know we keep on fighting the same fight. To be honest with you, it's the same fight that a 2-12 team fights. We have enough talent to win games. We, as a team, will never get over the hump with selfishness."

Notes: Parker's two scoring runs gave him 16 for the season, one more than Louis Lipps' previous franchise record from 1985. ... Cowher is 21-9 against the Bengals, his most victories against any team. ... Roethlisberger was 19-of-28 for 280 yards. For the season, he threw for 3,513 yards — second-most in team history — with 18 touchdowns and 23 interceptions, both career highs. ... Palmer threw for 4,035 yards, a club record. ... In the last three games, receiver Chad Johnson had a combined 10 catches for 122 yards. He didn't score a touchdown in the last six games.