Mike Tomlin's in the wrong business.

The Steelers head coach should have been a doctor. He knows just the thing to heal Willie Parker's leg, Aaron Smith's bicep, Marvel Smith's back and Max Starks' knee. Just show the Steelers' Dec. 16 loss to the Jaguars over and over again on every television at the Steelers' complex.

Tomlin thinks that making the players see the Jaguars' 29-22 regular-season victory over them will help them beat Jacksonville in Saturday night's AFC wild-card playoff game at Heinz Field. But it's not going to help all that much unless it puts Parker, Starks, Aaron Smith and Marvel Smith back in action, and alleviates the nagging injuries to Ben Roethlisberger, Hines Ward, Troy Polamalu, Deshea Townsend and Bryant McFadden.

Of course, Tomlin's purpose in showing that game tape in a continuous loop is to motivate his players so that a loss to the Jaguars doesn't happen again. Hopefully someday Tomlin will develop the Belichickian skill of making bulletin-board material from almost anything that comes out of an opponent's mouth. There's got to be some way to make Fred Taylor's comments about the Heinz Field turf into a motivational tool for the Steelers. Taylor gained 147 yards on that surface. He was treated very well as a guest by the Steelers defense. What an ingrate.

The Steelers are going to need more than motivation to get past the Jaguars. I'm afraid the Jaguars might just be a better team than the Steelers, and as much as it pains me, I'm going to predict a Jaguars win on Saturday. The Steelers' only hope is if Roethlisberger can take advantage of the Jaguars' suspect pass defense and put a lot of points on the board. He needs to come out throwing like he did in the 2005 playoffs. The only thing is, no one expected the Steelers to come out throwing in the 2005 playoffs. This time, the Jaguars are going to be looking for it. And unless the Steelers can figure out a way to stop the run, the Jaguars will be able to eat up the clock and keep Roethlisberger off the field.

The Jaguars have four wins over 2007 playoff teams this season. They're no longer the "yeah, but" team that ESPN's Chris Berman dubbed them last season. They don't have the playoff experience the Steelers have, but they can win big games. The Steelers have just one win over a playoff team, and that was on Oct. 7 at home against Seattle. They've been exposed since then.

Stopping the run isn't the Steelers' only problem. The offensive line has been a weakness all season, now it's even more of a worry because someone named "Trai" will be starting there Saturday night. With Marvel Smith and Starks both out, Trai Essex will start at left tackle. OK, I know he had a decent game against Baltimore in the regular-season finale. But Trai sounds like a name on "The OC" or "Dawson's Creek." Not only that, but look who the Steelers have added as reinforcements on the offensive line. Jason Capizzi, who stands 6-foot-9, and Jeremy Parquet were put on the 53-man roster. Capizzi might be able

to get a few rebounds for the Steelers, but that's about it. And Parquet is aptly named, considering the butter-like substance the offensive line has resembled this season. Hope they don't need either of those guys.

The Steelers also signed receiver Jeremy Bloom to their practice squad. Nothing says smash-mouth football like a former Olympic skier and fashion model. I'm sure he's really toughening up the active Steelers in practice. The Jaguars must be licking their chops now.

The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette's Ed Bouchette, the dean of Steelers scribes, predicts a Steelers win over the Jaguars. I hope he's right. His premise is that the Steelers played a bad game on Dec. 16 and the Jaguars played out of their minds. Roethlisberger did have a bad game, and it didn't help that his receivers dropped a few passes. But they also had Willie Parker in that game. I hope Tomlin edited out of the Jaguars game tape any footage of Willie Parker running the ball. Reminding the players that they don't have Parker might throw a fly in the motivational ointment.

Hopefully by now a lot of those TVs have been smashed, with the Jaguars next on the Steelers' list.