No Fuss as Steelers Take Title : AFC: Pittsburgh is first to win division, beating the Oilers, 21-7, for 20th time in 27 games at Three Rivers Stadium.

Neil O’Donnell threw two touchdown passes and Pittsburgh wrapped up its third AFC Central title in Coach Bill Cowher’s four seasons by beating the Houston Oilers, 21-7, Sunday.

It was the Steelers’ 20th victory in 27 games against Houston at Three Rivers Stadium. The Oilers (5-8) are set to move to Tennessee next season without first stopping by the playoffs.

“Only if we pick up the paper in the morning and it says we’re 8-5 rather than 5-8,” Oiler cornerback Cris Dishman said, “It’s the same old cliches for the last eight years I’ve been here: next year.”

But this year looks like last year in the AFC Central. After being 3-4 in late October, the Steelers (9-4) have won an NFL season-high six in a row to clinch the division faster than in any season since the 1970s.

Still, mindful of the premature celebration by some before they lost the AFC championship game to San Diego in January, the Steelers displayed no signs of being the first team to secure a divisional championship.

“We’re not ready to celebrate,” defensive back Carnell Lake said. “We’ve been here before, and guys are expecting better. If this was our first division championship, maybe it would be different. But we know we have a long way to go before we get to where we want to go: the Super Bowl.”

O’Donnell, who was 15 of 39 for 209 yards, found Yancey Thigpen and Mark Bruener for first-half touchdown passes, with Thigpen becoming the Steelers’ first 1,000-yard receiver since Louis Lipps in 1985. Bam Morris ran for 102 yards and his fifth touchdown in three games.

“To get to the big show . . . you’ve got to be able to run and pass,” Morris said. “Teams don’t know now if we’re going to run it or pass it; there’s some confusion.”

Even when the Oilers knew the Steelers would throw, they couldn’t stop them.

“We had seven healthy defensive backs coming into the game, and we lost two,” Oiler Coach Jeff Fisher said. “We had some guys playing positions they don’t normally play, and we had a breakdown, some miscommunication.”

Houston’s Chris Chandler was eight for 11 with a 76-yard touchdown pass to Chris Sanders in the first half, but was so ill because of flu that Fisher yanked him at halftime. Will Furrer did no better, going nine for 22 for 96 yards against a Steeler defense that had six sacks and forced a Houston team-record-tying 11 punts.

“They’re the top defense in the AFC for a reason,” Fisher said. “We had a tough time coming back offensively.”