Bruce Arians won't gloat or look at the Pittsburgh Steelers' appearance in the Super Bowl as any sort of personal vindication.

Not yet at least.

``If we win,'' Arians said this week as the Steelers' receivers coach prepared for Super Bowl XL in Detroit.

Getting there is not enough for the former Browns offensive coordinator, fired by Butch Davis after the 2003 season.

``It's not,'' Arians said. ``It really isn't. You've got to win it. It's hard to answer why that's true, too. You'll just feel you didn't get the job done.''

Arians did not have that feeling when he was fired one year after his offense scored more points than any Browns team since 1987.

He felt he had done the job in Cleveland. His firing came at a time in the Browns' tenure when it seemed like different scapegoats were found every year.

``Early on it was driving me crazy,'' he said of getting fired.

``Especially the first year. Then it was like, `No, let it go and go on.' It happened for whatever reason. I would have liked to have done it there, though. Especially for those fans.''

Arians dismissed what happened with the usual platitudes -- part of the game, you get angry but you move on... but...

``Then again,'' he said, ``I'm going to the Super Bowl.''

What happened to Arians has been emblematic of what has happened to the Browns since their return in 1999.

Arians came in with Davis in 2001 and installed a new offense. In 2002, that offense made stars of receivers who have since scattered to the wind (with the exception of Dennis Northcutt). It also helped the Browns win five of their last seven games en route to a playoff appearance against the Steelers.

And with Kelly Holcomb (then a backup) playing, that offense scored 33 points in the playoffs in Pittsburgh. Yet the Browns lost amid charges from players that Davis had undermined the defense and his coordinator Foge Fazio on the sidelines.

The day after that loss, Fazio was let go.

The next season, it was Arians' turn.

Both coaches were liked, respected, demanding and knowledgeable. Yet they have become part of the lore of turmoil that has surrounded the Browns since '99.

Arians caught on with the Steelers, and he clearly recognizes the difference in organizations between the one he's with now and the one he used to work for.

``Continuity,'' he said of the Steelers. ``They've had the same head coach for all these years. The same owner. Same everything. They've done it a certain way for so long and it won't change. They're not an organization that goes with the wind or trend. They know the way and they set a course and stick to it.

``Cleveland still seems to be trying to find that course.''

Arians watched his team pummel the Browns 41-0 in the second-to-last week of the season, then watched from afar as word leaked that the Browns were about to fire General Manager Phil Savage.

He said his reaction was like the fans.

``That whole story, I'm thinking: `That's ridiculous,' '' he said.

Savage wound up staying and team president John Collins wound up leaving.

Arians was discussing the Steelers when he talked, but his words could apply to any team.

``A team has no chance unless the organization from top to bottom is on the same page,'' he said. ``If there's any infighting, any backstabbing, it filters down.''

It's all good for Arians now, though. He's with a team that's stable and is winning.

The AFC Championship Game was the first time Arians had left Denver -- he called it ``that damn place'' -- with a win. In five previous visits, he'd lost on the last play of the game. Four of those occurred when he was coaching with the Kansas City Chiefs, one in an overtime loss with the Browns in 2003.

``When there got to be two minutes left and they used their last timeout, I said to myself: `They can't score 17,' '' he said.

This past week he spent getting ready, but not getting tickets.

``My wife took care of getting the tickets,'' he said. ``It's been a long season and the last thing I want to deal with is hotel rooms and tickets.

``My granddaughter (11-year-old Presley) will be there and I'll know where she'll be, and that's what matters to me.''