The Patriots will line up against themselves tonight at Heinz Field. Not literally – this is no preseason, intra-squad scrimmage. This is the AFC Championship, and a New England win today will erase any doubt that Bill Belichick and Bob Kraft have assembled a football dynasty in Foxboro. The Patriots and Steelers are mirror images of one another. They are the top two teams in the AFC and have earned their status the old-fashioned way. They play straight-ahead, smash-mouth football and make you pay for every yard you gain.

It’s a total change from last week’s matchup. The high-flying Colts came to town ready to prove once and for all they had the offense to run past the Pats. We now know that Indy’s just too pretty a team. Stick that finesse game in the middle of an ice-cold field against a tough-as-nails defense, and what you get is another round of early tee times for Peyton Manning and friends. This is a different matter. Edgerin James doesn’t like to be hit very much. Punch him in the face a few times, and you can start to concentrate on the passing game. Not so with Jerome Bettis. The Bus loves to get hit. He can’t wait for you to slam him. Somehow, he seems to gain momentum when he’s carrying a defender or two as well as the ball.

Bettis isn’t as good as he was three or four years ago, but he doesn’t have to be. He’s got Duce Staley to carry half the load. It might be the best 1-2 running back combo in the game right now. And the Pats have to stop it. And they will.

Does anyone really think New England will be beaten by Pittsburgh again? Belichick-led teams just don’t lose to a team the second time around. Under him, the Patriots are 13-0 when facing a quarterback for the second time in the same season.

It won’t be easy. The Steelers defense was the best in the game this season, giving up a mere 258.4 yards per game (and only 81.2 yards against the run.) New England prides itself on defense, but the Pats’ D pales in comparison.

The key will be stopping the Bettis/Staley combo. Rookie phenom Ben Roethlisberger has had a terrific year, including an 18-24, 196-yard Halloween. That was when Pittsburgh ripped apart New England 34-20 along the three rivers. Roethlisberger threw two touchdowns and didn’t get intercepted.

That was then, and this is now. Roethlisberger was lucky – no, very lucky – to survive last week’s scare against the Jets. Now he faces a team that is seeking revenge.

It’s incredible how far the Pats have come. What was it, six years ago that Kraft was ready to move the team to Hartford? The likes of Rod Rust, Chuck Fairbanks, Pete Carroll and Dick MacPherson are long gone. New England is the flagship franchise of the AFC, with a gleaming state-of-the-art stadium and a run of merchandising success that other owners dream of. In 10 years, the team has gone from laughingstock to model franchise.

And it only get better tomorrow morning, when you can add a third AFC championship in four years to the list of credits. The road to the Super Bowl might go through Pittsburgh, but for New England it won’t stop until Jacksonville on Feb. 6.

Lewiston native Tom Caron is a NESN sports analyst for Red Sox and Bruins telecasts.