OAKLAND, Calif. — A game against the wretched Oakland Raiders sure seemed like a cure for what ailed the Pittsburgh Steelers.

So much for that. Now the defending Super Bowl champions really are in dire straits.

And this week, Bill Cowher will face the question about whether he made the right call by starting Ben Roethlisberger a week after the quarterback's concussion. Big Ben was a big bust in an error-filled 20-13 loss to the Oakland Raiders on Sunday that sent the Pittsburgh Steelers to their fifth defeat in six games and dropped them to a surprising 2-5.

Same record as the Raiders.

Making the playoffs might be a tough task for Pittsburgh now.

"This is a completely new year," linebacker Clark Haggans said. "We've just got to go out there and play football. Last year was last year. We're putting it behind us. Everyone got their rings but this is the 2006 season."

Roethlisberger was sacked five times, threw four interceptions — including two returned for touchdowns — and did little to help the hapless Steelers in a disastrous day against a relentless Oakland defense. Pittsburgh managed only 88 yards in the first half and couldn't score the tying TD with first-and-goal at the 1 in the closing minutes as Oakland (2-5) came with constant pressure all afternoon.

"I haven't got a whole lot to say," Cowher said. "Four interceptions, two returned for touchdowns, you can't overcome that."

Chris Carr's game-breaking, 100-yard interception return for a touchdown with 9:32 remaining gave the Raiders a 20-6 lead — not to mention a little swagger for a franchise that had become the league laughingstock after an 0-5 start. Now, Oakland is riding a two-game winning streak for the first time in a year.

"We were 0-5 with our backs against the wall and everybody was laughing at us and saying we were going to be 0-16," said Carr, who credits extra sprints after practice for giving him extra energy on the return.

After beating Roethlisberger for a clear path to the end zone, Carr signed the ball and threw it into the stands.

"I wanted the fans to get my first touchdown. I don't care about the football. The memory will last forever," he said. "As soon as I knew it was me and him, I knew there was no way he was going to catch me."

Roethlisberger, playing a week after getting knocked out with a concussion against Atlanta, looked out of sync all game.

He threw interceptions on two of Pittsburgh's first three possessions and then twice again in the fourth quarter when the Steelers were driving for a potential tying score.

"I thought our defense was magnificent," Raiders coach Art Shell said. "We played as good as any defense could play in this league — against the world champions, the Super Bowl champions."

Roethlisberger was 25-for-37 for 301 yards, but 197 of those yards came after Pittsburgh fell behind 20-6. The Steelers didn't score a touchdown until Willie Parker's 25-yard TD catch with 7:19 to play.

"I'm embarrassed about the way I played," Roethlisberger said. "I'm letting the whole team down. It just seems like one guy makes mistakes and that's me. ... In my wildest dreams, I didn't think I'd be playing this bad."

Derrick Burgess made 2Z\x sacks, Tommy Kelly had 1½, then Warren Sapp added to the punishment with a 9-yard sack in the waning seconds. Fabian Washington contributed his first career interception and Nnamdi Asomugha had a 24-yard interception return for a score.

Receiver Jerry Porter played for the first time all season but wasn't much of a factor as the Raiders again struggled to move the ball. They finished with just 98 yards — their second-lowest total since at least 1970 — gave up six sacks and failed to score an offensive touchdown.

"Personally, it was ridiculous," said quarterback Andrew Walter, who was 5-for-14 for 51 yards. "We can enjoy the win I guess, but personally it was pretty pathetic the way we played on offense."

Porter, inactive the first four games and suspended the last two as part of a long-running feud with Shell, caught a 19-yard pass in the final minute of the first half to set up Sebastian Janikowski's 19-yard field goal that made it 10-6.

"That was a great win for our football team, a great win for the organization," Shell said. "It just adds to what we're trying to do around here, which is to build on the foundation we're trying to lay."

Notes: The Oakland offense didn't score a touchdown for the fourth

time in seven games. ... The Raiders had 93 yards on Dec. 7, 1997, vs. Kansas City.