Here's a tale of two Pittsburgh football teams.

While the Steelers will try to pull a rabbit out of a hat and make the NFL playoffs this weekend in Miami, Pitt will try to pull another Dion Lewis or two off the recruiting trail over the next month.

These two teams have traded places in terms of where they were four years ago.

The Steelers won the Super Bowl against Seattle after the 2005 season. The Panthers struggled to a 5-6 record that year, losing their first three games.

Included in those first three contests was an embarrassing overtime loss at Ohio University, a Mid-American Conference opponent Pitt had never lost to.

Fast forward to the present and we have Pitt coming off the first bowl victory of the Dave Wannstedt era and the program's first 10-win campaign since 1981.

Panthers players — and Wannstedt — are proclaiming that the program is back.

The Steelers are wondering where their winning program went.

Five straight losses have been followed by two narrow victories, one coming courtesy of a desperation last-second touchdown pass, the other after a bevy of Baltimore Ravens mistakes — not exactly the stuff defending Super Bowl champions are made of.

The Steelers' hat trick of losses to lowly Kansas City, Oakland and Cleveland likely has cost them a shot at defending their championship.

Had they beaten all three of those teams, which sport a combined record of 12-33, it would be battling San Diego for a first-round bye right now.

Had the Steelers won two of those three games, they would have clinched a wild-card berth last Sunday.

Had they defeated just one of those three, a win in Miami this Sunday would guarantee them a playoff berth.

As it stands, the Steelers need help — just like Pitt did four short years ago.

Wannstedt's recruiting bailed out the Panthers. Freshman running back Dion Lewis is a primary example.

Standing only 5-feet-8, Lewis basically was ignored by other Division I programs because of his short stature. All he did for Pitt was rush for 1,799 yards, the second highest single-season total in team history behind Tony Dorsett.

Lewis ran for 159 yards in the Meineke Car Care Bowl — his eighth straight 100-yard game — and had 13 carries for 58 yards during the 17-play, 79-yard drive to the winning field goal.

The Steelers will be saying goodbye to some great players — Willie Parker, James Farrior, perhaps Casey Hampton and Jeff Reed — this offseason and will soon be a team in transition.

An NFL team's "recruiting" is done through the draft. The Steelers have some work to do there, particularly along the offensive line and in the secondary.

Pitt might be in position to become a dominant college football team again.

The Steelers need some shrewd moves to return to such status in the NFL.

John Enrietto is sports editor of the Butler Eagle.