PITTSBURGH - The Pittsburgh Steelers are about to get reacquainted with prime time.

All but missing from national TV during their unexpectedly good 15-1 season last year, the Steelers play three times on Monday night and once on Sunday night in 2005 - plus late Sunday afternoon games against the Super Bowl-champion Patriots and the Green Bay Packers.

The Steelers open and close at home, meeting former divisional rival Tennessee in their opener Sept. 11 and the Detroit Lions to close the season on New Year's Day.

"It's kind of the reward and the curse, playing that many Monday night and Sunday night and 4:15 games," Steelers president Art Rooney II said Wednesday. "I think most of the coaches would at least like to have everything at 1 o'clock, but it goes with the territory and you've got to be prepared for the challenge."

The Steelers didn't play on Monday night and appeared in only one Sunday night game a year ago following their 6-10 season in 2003. That meant much of the country got only occasional glimpses of them during NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year Ben Roethlisberger's breakout season.

Eleven of last season's 16 games were early Sunday afternoon starts, while only nine are this season. A demanding five-game midseason stretch finds them playing twice on Monday night (Oct. 31, Baltimore and Nov. 28 at Indianapolis), once on Sunday night (Nov. 13, Cleveland) and twice in late-afternoon Sunday games (Nov. 6 at Green Bay and Nov. 20 at Baltimore).

The Colts' game falls on Halloween, a year to the day after the Steelers ended the Patriots' record 21-game winning streak with a 34-20 victory at Heinz Field. It will be the Steelers' first Monday night home game since they beat the Colts 28-10 on Oct. 21, 2002.

"Two years in a row on Halloween - it was pretty good to us last year so maybe it will work again this year," Rooney said.

The Steelers also play perhaps the most disliked game by NFL coaches and players for an East Coast team - a Monday night game on the West Coast, Oct. 10 at San Diego. After a short week of preparation, they play Jacksonville at home the following Sunday.

"We get to be the team that goes to the West Coast on Monday night, which is always the dreaded trip," Rooney said. "The good teams find a way to be ready."

The Steelers were aided by the schedule a year ago, playing five of their first eight games at home - going 7-1 en route to the best regular-season record in their history. They play five of their first nine at home this season.

They meet only one NFC team, Green Bay, until facing the Bears, Vikings and Lions during the final four weeks of the season. Three home games are Dec. 4 or later, when snow or cold weather can be a factor.

"We go to a couple of places we haven't been to for a long time, Green Bay and Minnesota, so those will be some interesting road games," Rooney said.

The Steelers haven't played at Minnesota in 19 years, or since a 31-7 loss in 1986, or at Green Bay since their last Super Bowl season 10 years ago. That 24-19 loss on Christmas Eve, in what was a meaningless game to the Steelers, ended an eight-game winning streak.

With Christmas falling on a Sunday for the first time since 1994, the Steelers will play at Cleveland on Saturday, Dec. 24, as only two NFL games are scheduled on Christmas.