I don't give a shit if the Patriots popped the ball out of Bettis's hands on the 3rd down only to have Ben Roethlisberger fall on it 20 yards behind the line of scrimmage, they still should have gone for the TD on 4th down. That's my opinion. Steelers were outplayed and outcoached by the Patriots. It's sad though that the Patriots won by more than 20 points and you're all debating a fairly useless FG situation.
My other point is, how do you know if they wouldnt have scored on the 4th? What if the Steelers put in a trick play, catching the Pats sleeping for a millisecond, and scoring a miraculous pass? They could also just have flattened the Steelers on the 4th down, the point is you HAVE TO TRY! Fact is, Bill Belichick was the only coach in the AFC title game who got the memo to actually try to win. Cowher just coached not to lose, and coaching like that, you almost always inevitably lose.
The Steelers will be back in the AFC title game in two years. Maybe then they will learn to coach better and play better.