Ben Roethlisberger threw a career high-tying five touchdown passes while playing on a badly sprained foot and the shorthanded Pittsburgh Steelers rolled to a 38-17 victory over the visiting Tennessee Titans on Sunday.

Hines Ward caught two touchdowns for the Steelers (3-2), who looked more like the defending AFC champions one week after a 17-10 loss to Houston left them bruised and battered.

Pittsburgh rattled off 21 unanswered points in the first half and overcame a slew of injuries en route to a dominating win over the upstart Titans (3-2), who had their three-game winning streak snapped.

Linebacker James Harrison (broken orbital bone), running back Rashard Mendenhall (hamstring) and defensive tackle Casey Hampton (shoulder) were among the Pittsburgh starters sidelined. The Steelers still had Roethlisberger, who wore a special shoe to protect his left foot.

And the injury didn’t prevent him from tying his career-best mark for touchdown passes set in 2007 vs. Baltimore. Roethlisberger capped his big day with a 40-yard touchdown pass to Mike Wallace with less than three minutes left after Tennessee failed to recover an onside kick.

The Steelers’ beleaguered defense also did its part, holding Tennessee star running back Chris Johnson to 51 yards on 14 carries and coming up with its first turnover of the season at a crucial moment.

Tennessee appeared to have a sliver of hope when it recovered an onside kick following Johnson’s 1-yard touchdown run that cut the deficit to 28-10 with 2:02 left in the third.

Pittsburgh’s defense stepped up on the very next play, however, as Brett Keisel tipped a pass and LaMarr Woodley corralled the Steelers’ first interception of the season.

Pittsburgh became the last team in the NFL to force a turnover.