DALLAS – Don’t rush to coronate the Pittsburgh Steelers as the best team in football.

Granted, the Steelers are one of three teams in the NFL with 9-1 records – and Pittsburgh handed each of the other two 9-1 teams, New England and Philadelphia, their only loss.

But Kansas City looked every bit as impregnable as the Steelers at this time a year ago. So did Green Bay in 2002 and Chicago in 2001.

Be leery of that 10-game mark. The best team in the NFL doesn’t play its best football to reach this point of the season. The best team plays its best football from this point on.

Only once in the last five years has the team with the best record after 10 weeks won the Super Bowl. That was Tampa Bay in 2002. The Buccaneers parlayed an 8-2 start into a 15-4 finish.

In the 10-year salary-cap era, the team with the best record after 10 weeks advanced to win the Super Bowl only four times.

The Chiefs were a league-best 9-1 after 10 games a year ago. Kansas City finished 13-3 but did not win a playoff game. Same with the Packers in 2002. They were a league-best 8-2 on the way to 12-4 and failed to win a playoff game. The Bears were 8-2 in 2001 on the way to 13-3 and also failed to win a playoff game.

No one was talking about the Patriots on Thanksgiving weekend of 2001. They were 5-5 and in third place of the AFC East. But their best football was ahead of them. The Patriots won nine in a row after the Thanksgiving holiday to storm to their first Super Bowl championship.

The Patriots did it again in 2003, going 8-0 after Thanksgiving to win a second Super Bowl. The Baltimore Ravens won eight in a row after Thanksgiving in 2000 to vault from 6-4 to a Super Bowl championship.

All teams are going to have lulls in a season. The salary cap makes it difficult to sustain excellence.

During the five seasons immediately preceding the salary cap (1989-1993), a team with the best record after 10 weeks advanced to the Super Bowl: San Francisco (9-1) in 1989, the New York Giants (10-0) in 1990, Washington (10-0) in 1991, Dallas (8-2) in 1992 and Buffalo (8-2) in 1993.

Except for the Cowboys, those were older, more experienced teams. With no salary cap, you could afford to pay age.

But benches are no longer as deep and starting lineups no longer as veteran as they were in that pre-salary cap era. The days of the 30-year-old reserve are over. Teams are forced to keep younger players on the roster and, by the end of the season when injuries hit, play them. Younger players are more prone to make mistakes.

So it’s tougher to play your best football late. But the teams that do, benefit. Championships are there for the taking.

Maybe it will be the Steelers this season. Maybe it’ll be the Patriots or the Eagles. But don’t rule out the Colts, Packers and Ravens, either. The NFL doesn’t crown a champion on Nov. 28. The coronation comes Feb. 6.

The team that plays the best football from this point will wear the crown.

AP-NY-11-26-04 1417EST