SPOTLIGHT / A GLANCE AT THIS WEEK IN THE NFL

STEELTOWN SENSATION

At the start of the season, expectations were low in Pittsburgh.

Bill Cowher had replaced the legendary Chuck Noll as head coach.

The Steelers were coming off a 7-9 season.

No one thought quarterbacks Neil O’Donnell or Bubby Brister were going to become the reincarnation of Terry Bradshaw.

But even fewer believed that a new Franco Harris was on the roster.

Welcome to the new world. The Steelers share the best record in the AFC and Barry Foster has come out of nowhere to nudge Harris out of some of his club records.

(Well, not nowhere, actually. Foster is a third-year player from Arkansas, but it’s not as if a great running back or a president is going to come from there ).

He rushed for 102 yards and two touchdowns Sunday in a 21-9 victory over Cincinnati, his eighth game in a row with more than 100 yards rushing.

He broke Harris’ 17-year-old single-season club rushing record of 1,246, and has a league-leading 1,319. He also passed Harris’ single-season record for all-purpose yards. Foster has 1,587 yards rushing and receiving. Harris had 1,477 in 1979.

Foster also ranks 13th on the Steelers’ career rushing list with 2,110 yards.

“It was something,� Foster said. “I really didn’t expect it to happen and neither did my teammates or coaches. Hopefully I can do it again next year and break my own record.�

MOVING UP

The Kansas City Chiefs’ 23-7 victory over the New York Jets was secondary because of the injury to New York’s Dennis Byrd, but the Chiefs had to be encouraged.

For one thing, it put them in first place in the AFC West at 8-4, half a game ahead of Denver, which plays tonight.

For another, quarterback Dave Krieg had the kind of game that showed why the Chiefs signed him as a free agent. Krieg completed his last 10 passes, and overall he was 17 of 21 for 222 yards, with two touchdowns and no interceptions.

And the Chiefs’ defense, the strength of the team, kept the stunned Jets in check, holding them to 62 yards rushing.

“We’ve had good, solid defense and an offense that can run the ball,� Krieg said. “And we showed we can throw the ball.�

The Chiefs also seemed to have luck on their side. No Kansas City running back has lost a fumble this season, and when Barry Word fumbled on the team’s first play from scrimmage, guard David Lutz was there for the recovery.

Another good omen: When Kansas City won its only Super Bowl against Minnesota in 1970, the final score was 23-7.

SMALL SHOULDERS

How bad are things going for the once-proud Chicago Bears, owners of a 4-8 record after losing their fifth in row?

They were handled Sunday by the Browns, 27-14, even though Cleveland quarterback Bernie Kosar completed only eight of 17 passes for 59 yards.

Actually, the situation in Chicago is looking remarkably similar to the one in Anaheim last season. And we know what happened to the coach there.

HE STANDS ALONE

John Madden is still the cream of the crop of NFL commentators.

During Sunday’s San Francisco-Philadelphia game on CBS, 49er tight end Brent Jones was looking for a pass-interference call. Here was Madden’s explanation as to why he didn’t get it:

“The official either didn’t see the push, didn’t think it was a push--or he didn’t care.�

NAMES AND NUMBERS

Former UCLA tight end Charles Arbuckle, used sparingly during his first 11 games with Indianapolis, had his first nine NFL receptions, good for 106 yards for the Colts. His total was the second highest of the season for Indianapolis. . . . Thurman Thomas moved past the 1,000-yard mark in rushing for the fourth consecutive season, going over the century mark for the sixth time this year with 102 yards in 21 carries.

Punting deep: Rohn Stark of Indianapolis, who was leading the NFL with a 46.4 punting average and a league-leading net mark of 40.8, had punts of 52, 55 and 53 yards in the first quarter. . . . Punting sharp: Cleveland’s Brian Hansen was leading the NFL with 22 punts inside the 20, and four of his six punts against the Bears were downed inside the 20.

Green Bay’s Sterling Sharpe caught nine passes Sunday, giving him 363 for his career. That breaks Roger Craig’s NFL record of 358 for receptions in the first five seasons of a career. Sharpe caught 90 passes for a single-season Packer record in 1989 and has 82 this season with four games remaining.

Nick Lowery’s three field goals gave him 304 for his 13 NFL seasons. That ties the Chief kicker with Jim Turner and Pat Leahy for third place on the career field goal list. . . . Often-injured running back Blair Thomas, who missed the last two Jet games and three of the last four, left in the first quarter with a sprained left knee and will be out at least two weeks.

Art Monk’s 11-yard reception in the second quarter against Phoenix gave him a catch in 144 consecutive games, the longest current streak in the NFL. Ozzie Newsome is second with 150, and Steve Largent holds the record with 177. . . . Mark Rypien had two touchdown passes, the first time this season he has thrown more than one. His last such performance came in Washington’s Super Bowl victory.

Atlanta’s 34-0 victory over New England was the Falcons’ first shutout since a 20-0 victory over Green Bay on Nov. 6, 1988.

The day after his brother, Jimmy, passed for 613 yards for Houston against Rice, Cincinnati’s David Klingler was sacked 10 times by Pittsburgh in his NFL debut. He also scrambled for 44 yards.

New Orleans quarterback Bobby Hebert is 15-0 against AFC teams.

THE LAST WORD

San Francisco safety Dana Hall, after a fourth-down catch by Philadelphia came up short of a first down in the final minute: “They say it’s a game of inches. It was a millimeter today.�

49er quarterback Steve Young, who completed a pass to Jerry Rice for Rice’s 100th scoring catch: “I wasn’t consciously looking for Jerry because he’ll get his record. He’ll get to 101 doing the same thing.� New Orleans linebacker Sam Mills on the Saints: “We don’t have just one or two guys that give us a pass rush, we’ve got a lot of them. We’ve got great pass rushers sitting on the bench on this team.�

Washington tight end Ron Middleton, after the Redskins’ 41-3 victory over Phoenix: “For us, it was like, ‘The playoffs start today.’ We had to have this one. It was that simple.�

Minnesota quarterback Sean Salisbury, whose last start on U.S. soil was in 1985 for USC against California: “It was a dream come true to start today. My mind is 29 years old, but I feel like I’m 22.�

New England quarterback Scott Zolak, after a 34-0 loss to Atlanta: “I compare what we did today to sort of like bowling. We came up to the lane, but we kept throwing gutter balls all day.�

Cincinnati quarterback David Klingler, who was sacked 10 times by Pittsburgh and forced to scramble eight other times in his NFL debut: “If I can get rid of this headache, I’ll sleep well tonight.�

TONIGHT’S GAME

DENVER BRONCOS (7-4)

at SEATTLE SEAHAWKS (1-10)

Time: 6 p.m. TV: Channel 7, 3, 10, 42

Give ABC credit: The network did its best to avoid promoting this game over the weekend.

Dick Vermeil, the commentator on the Florida-Florida State on Saturday, may have said it best: “If John Elway doesn’t play, this might be a scoreless tie.�

With Elway at quarterback, the Broncos can score a lot of points in a hurry. With rookie Tommy Maddox as Elway’s replacement last week against the Raiders, the Broncos lost, 24-0. Elway has a shoulder injury.

On Sunday, Denver Coach Dan Reeves downgraded Elway’s status from “questionable� to “doubtful� and said: “I don’t think he’ll be ready unless there’s a miracle.�

Although the Broncos were blanked by the Raiders, Reeves was not that displeased with Maddox, who left UCLA after his sophomore season to enter the NFL draft.

In his first NFL start, Maddox completed 18 of 26 passes for 207 yards but had three turnovers, throwing two interceptions and losing a fumble. He was sacked three times.

“I thought Tommy played fairly well for a rookie,� Reeves said. “He made some good throws, but he made some typical rookie mistakes. Unfortunately, the people around him didn’t play as well.�

The Broncos, trying to keep pace with Kansas City in the AFC West, may not need to play well to beat the Seahawks. Seattle has lost eight in a row, one short of the club record, and scored only 73 points.

The Seahawks will have Kelly Stouffer as their starting quarterback for the second game in a row after he was sidelined for four games because of a dislocated left shoulder.

Stouffer may not be thawed out yet. He had five turnovers, including four interceptions, in a 24-14 loss to the Chiefs last week.