On August 12, 2004, a day before the Steelers' first preseason game, Charlie Batch got bad news. The arthroscopic surgery that was supposed to repair a bothersome left knee revealed more severe damage, and the veteran quarterback was placed on injured reserve. The Steelers had signed Kurt Kittner, a third-year veteran who had seen some action for Atlanta, as a camp arm when Batch became unavailable. The other three quarterbacks were starter Tommy Maddox, 2003 fifth-round pick Brian St. Pierre and 2004 first-round choice Ben Roethlisberger. Kittner didn't get into an exhibition game and was cut after the last one, so Pittsburgh went into the season with only one QB (Maddox) who had taken a snap in a real NFL game. St. Pierre started the season on the practice squad.
The Steelers beat Oakland in the opener, 24-21. Pittsburgh took a 21-10 lead into the fourth quarter, but the Raiders tied it with five minutes left. Maddox drove the Steelers back down, and Jeff Reed kicked the winning 42-yard field goal with 11 seconds left. The most memorable thing about the game was probably Jerome Bettis' statistical line. Bill Cowher was using Duce Staley as his feature back, and Bettis as a short-yardage specialist. In this game, The Bus carried 5 times for 1 yard and 3 touchdowns.
The next game was in Baltimore. The Ravens won, 30-13, but the big news was that on a sack by Gary Baxter during the second half's first drive, Maddox hurt his right elbow. Roethlisberger came in and completed 12 of 20 passes for 179 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions. Chris McAlister returned a pick 51 yards for the game's final points.
In the next day's Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, columnist Ron Cook said, "The Steelers' season is finished."
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