Change is coming to the Steelers’ coaching staff, and not all of it has to do with other teams coming after offensive coordinator Mike Mularkey and linebackers coach Mike Archer. “There is a chance that there could be some changes,” coach Bill Cowher said. “and some changes made for us because of (Mularkey’s) situation.” Mularkey spent most of yesterday afternoon interviewing with Jacksonville Jaguars owner Wayne Weaver about his team’s head coaching vacancy. Mularkey also interviewed twice with the Cincinnati Bengals, but that job went to Washington Redskins defensive coordinator Marvin Lewis. Mularkey is one of three candidates for the Jaguars’ job, including University of Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz and Carolina Panthers defensive coordinator Jack Del Rio. “Mike is a good football coach,” Cowher said. “His day is coming. The only question is when.” Archer is the leading candidate to become the defensive coordinator at the University of Kentucky, and he spoke with Kentucky coach Rich Brooks yesterday. Mularkey and Archer have been with the Steelers since 1996. Cowher said he will meet with his coaches today before announcing any changes to his staff. “Until I have a chance to sit down and talk with all the coaches individually, it would be a little premature to comment,” Cowher said. Defensive coordinator Tim Lewis, who replaced Jim Haslett in 2000, has directed a unit that was ranked seventh, first and seventh in overall defense the past three seasons and has produced Pro Bowl linebackers Jason Gildon, Kendrell Bell and Joey Porter. The passing defense was 20th this season after finishing fourth in 2001. Lewis, 42, has two years remaining on his contract. “To me, right now, the focus is on the coaching staff,” Cowher said. “These are very important decisions. You are only as good as the people you surround yourself with. This has been an outstanding coaching staff. I thought our coaching staff worked extremely hard. They worked through a lot of the high expectations, made the adjustments we had to make through the course of the year and I’m very proud of each and every one of them.” THANKS, BUT … Cowher noted the praise from team president Dan Rooney, who said he did one of his best coaching jobs. But it wasn’t enough to soothe the pain of defeat in the playoffs, he said. “I appreciate his viewpoints, but we fell short and that falls with me,” Cowher said. “We didn’t win a championship. That’s my responsibility. That’s how you are judged in this business. I can’t feel anything different than the fact that we threw our heart and soul into this thing. We had high expectations and we did not meet them. There is a feeling that there is a job undone.” ‘I WAS WRONG’ Cowher said he was wrong for charging referee Ron Blum and umpire Chad Brown after the playoff loss to the Tennessee Titans. “When I first did it, I didn’t know if the game was over because I saw (Blum) talking to (Brown), and I know Jason (Gildon) was trying to call timeout,” Cowher said. “That does not give me any justification for doing what I did. I was totally out of line for doing that.” Cowher said he later thought about Penn State coach Joe Paterno, who rushed at officials earlier this season after a loss to Iowa. “I don’t think I looked as fast as Joe Paterno did when he was chasing that guy down. I didn’t have as far to go, though. “Whenever I saw Joe, I thought to myself, ‘Why, Joe, why, would you do that?’ And then, I just did it. I guess the more you are in this business, the more you start to understand the emotions. “It is a very, highly emotional game and I don’t condone that. It was one of those things that when you did it, you think to yourself, ‘Why did I do that?’ ” ON OFFICIATING Cowher said he has “a lot of confidence” in the league office and their attempts to monitor referees and officials. “I think the officiating we got, for the most part, was very, very solid. I have nothing but the utmost respect for the guys who are out there and doing a very difficult job.” He also said the running-into-the-kicker penalty didn’t cost the Steelers the game. “We shouldn’t have put ourselves in that situation,” he said. “We had the ball first-and-10 at midfield in the last four minutes of the game and in both situations we had to punt. Consequently, we fell short.” TALE OF TWO KICKERS Cowher plans to have kicker Todd Peterson, who broke his ribs Nov. 17 against the Tennessee Titans, come to training camp and compete with Jeff Reed. But Reed is the clear front-runner. “We’re going to go into camp, and it will be (Reed) and Todd Peterson,” Cowher said. “As I told them both, it’s Jeff Reed’s job to lose. He had a great year.” Reed hit 17 of 19 field-goal attempts during the regular season, but he had just as many misses (two in five attempts) in the postseason. Peterson, who was on injured reserve, was healed before the end of the season and might have been able to kick three weeks ago. If the Steelers cut Peterson, they still have to count $450,000 of his $600,000 signing bonus against the salary cap, but they wouldn’t have to pay him a $675,000 base salary and $100,000 roster bonus for 2003. NOTABLE The Steelers might consider keeping Bell on the field next season for all three downs. That was the plan last season until he suffered a high-ankle sprain in August, and he turned into a two-down player for the second consecutive season. … Linebacker John Fiala, who spent most of the season on injured reserve with a knee injury, will have arthroscopic surgery on his shoulder this offseason. … Cowher said he doesn’t know how to avoid playoff byes, and he said earning the byes makes the regular season meaningful. “That’s why Game 1 is just as important as Game 16.” … Quarterback Charlie Batch, an unrestricted free agent, is “certainly a viable option (as a backup),” Cowher said. “We have to sit down and look and see the cap, roster, options and what direction we are going to go.”

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