updated 8:20 p.m. ET Jan. 22, 2006

DENVER - It was like old times at Mile High: No. 7 making all the big plays, a trip to the Super Bowl on the line.

Only this time, John Elway was watching from the luxury suites while Ben Roethlisberger was wreaking havoc on the field.

Jake Plummer and the Broncos were left to ponder yet another blowout in the playoffs, a 34-17 loss to underdog Pittsburgh on Sunday.

The last two years, the Broncos made early exits in the wild-card round at Indianapolis, where they were pummeled by a combined score of 90-34. This time, it came at home — where Denver hadn’t lost all season — and it came as a big surprise.

“It’s tough. It’s the farthest I’ve ever gotten,” Plummer said. “And we’ve got to think of it as a step in the right direction.”

Even though Denver appeared to take several steps back.

“I know what it feels like to hold the Lombardi Trophy at the end of the season, so anything less than that feels like a failure,” Denver wide receiver Rod Smith said.

The Broncos had lost the ball four times at home all season, and Plummer threw just seven interceptions while shaking his image as a risk-taking quarterback who lost his gambles more often than not.

On Sunday, Plummer, playing with a chest cold, turned the ball over four times and the Broncos failed to force a single turnover, their calling card during a 13-3 season that seemed destined to end in Detroit.

Roethlisberger’s passer rating of 124.9 was nearly double that of Plummer’s 66.4.

“The interceptions were bad and I haven’t really fumbled the ball much all year,” Plummer said. “They ended up capitalizing on some turnovers and putting us in a hole and against a defense like that it’s hard to come out of a hole like that.”

After retooling their defense and recharging their offense in the offseason, the Broncos earned a first-round bye and then sent the defending champion New England Patriots packing last week. Their celebration turned downright giddy when the Steelers knocked off the Colts, ensuring no nightmare at the RCA Dome this year.

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Oddsmakers installed them as the favorites to win it all for the first time since Elway’s retirement in 1998. But the AFC’s only unbeaten team at home couldn’t keep the Steelers from becoming the first sixth seed to reach the Super Bowl.

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.

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.

Plummer’s teammates had trouble holding onto the ball, too.

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 at 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.

“We just couldn’t squeeze them,” Foxworth said. “Those are the balls we had to have. They will resonate in my mind over the offseason.”

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

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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 when Bailey bit on the pump fake on the first play of the second quarter.

By halftime, it was 24-3 and Denver’s season was 30 merciful minutes from being over.

The Broncos took no consolation from their best run in the post-Elway era.

“Obviously we had a good season, everybody knows that,” Plummer said. “But in the end only one team’s happy. We’re not that team.”

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