STEEL RESOLVE WINS.

Byline: STEVE DILBECK

Somebody has to win. That part's a lock. Nobody has to be the team of the ages, be compared to the all-time greats, exit to lucrative endorsements and Hollywood's calling.

They just have to be good enough to win.

And that, my little bean dippers, would be the Pittsburgh Steelers.

A very good team. A tough, balanced, aggressive team, peaking at the right time.

Seattle is a good team, too, but that's about it. If the average NFL fan struggles to name three Seahawks, that's a sign their overall talent level might be just this side of Dieter Brock.

The Seahawks made it to the vacation paradise of Detroit by beating banged-up Washington and Carolina at home. And people wonder why the country isn't all gaga over the prospects of this Super Bowl.

The NFC as a whole was completely unimpressive this season. It was so bad, a decent ex-AFC team was its conference championship.

Now my good friend on the other column over there, Kevin Modesti, will no doubt have plenty of nice numbers to support the Seahawks. Kevin stores more numbers than the IRS.

But here are the only numbers you really need to digest: The six AFC playoff teams this season went 20-4 against the NFC. The six NFC playoff teams went 9-11 against the AFC.

It's been one-sided all season, with all the sexy teams - Indianapolis, New England, Denver, and now Pittsburgh - residing in the AFC.

The Steelers took the best shots of Cincinnati, Indianapolis and Denver on the road, and came out atop the AFC.

This deserves some serious respect, the Steelers playing their best when it matters most. The Seahawks went 13-3 in the regular season, beating only three teams with winning records - and that includes the resting Colts at season's end.

Let's face it, the Seahawks are happy to be here. Seattle is starved for something approaching sports success that doesn't involve a caffeine contest.

It's been a while for the Steelers, too, but at least they have a real Super Bowl pedigree.

The Steelers will stuff Shaun Alexander at the line of scrimmage, and on those rare occasions he gets into the defensive backfield, will be handled by the best linebackers corp - Joey Porter, James Farrior, Larry Foote and Clark Haagans - in football.

Then will come the wild-hair blitzes of Troy Polamalu, and Matt Hasselbeck will once again be exposed as a mediocre NFL quarterback.

The Steelers wear the Seahawks down, we all have to learn how to spell Roethlisberger and Pittsburgh emerges a 31-10 victor.

CAPTION(S):

4 photos, 10 boxes

Photo:

(1) no caption (fans)

AP PHOTO

(2) Shaun Alexander

(3) Jerome Bettis

Getty Images

(4) no caption (Super Bowl XL tickets)

Box:

(1) SEAHAWKS

(2) STEELERS

(3) TEST YOUR KNOWLEDGE

(4) WANNA BET?

(5) SERIES HISTORY

(6) INDOOR RESULTS

(7) THAT'S THE TICKET

(8) SUPER BOWL XL

(9) WON FOR THE THUMB?

(10) ALL-TIME STANDINGS