The six-year quarterback was contemplating retirement not so long ago. A rookie defensive end made the play of the game to swing the momentum back in his team’s favor. At approximately 9:45 Sunday night, 69,596 onlookers became deliriously happy as their hometown Eagles counted down the seconds in their 38-7 thrashing of the Minnesota Vikings at Lincoln Financial Field to claim the National Football League’s NFC title.

This was the team’s most convincing win in a playoff game in many years. In 1980, they also defeated the Vikings on the way to their first Super Bowl but it wasn’t nearly as convincing as this one was. They’re going back to the Super Bowl and will play the AFC champion New England Patriots in Minneapolis, Minnesota on Feb. 4, 6:30 p.m.

Nick Foles started his fifth game since taking over for the injured Carson Wentz and he made football fans everywhere stand up and take notice he is a force to be reckoned with again. After his illustrious 2013 season, Foles was injured in 2014 and traded during the off-season to the St. Louis Rams. Then his downward slide began and he went from the St. Louis Rams to the Kansas City Chiefs and started to think life as an NFL quarterback was no longer meant for him.

But luckily, for the Eagles, he had a change of heart and decided to hang in there and came back to the team that drafted him in 2012. Foles played as well as he ever has – even better than the seven-touchdown passes game he had in Oakland in 2013. The Vikings are a superior team compared to the one Oakland had four years ago, but you could’ve fooled quite a few people if you told them that. He consistently threw passes to wide receivers that were wide open downfield or dumping the ball off to pass catchers coming off the line of scrimmage to avoid getting sacked.

He finished 26-for-33 for 352 yards and three touchdown passes, no interceptions and a quarterback rating of 141.4. He threw touchdown bombs to Alshon Jeffery, for 53 yards, a high-arcing one to Torrey Smith, for 41 yards, and then he capped it off with a five-yarder to Jeffery when the outcome was obvious.

Derek Barnett helped ignite a 14-point swing in the Eagles (15-3, NFC East, first seed) favor in the second quarter when he stripped Vikings’ quarterback Case Keenum of the ball when they were in the red-zone. Not only were the Vikings turned away from scoring a touchdown but it led to Foles’ first touchdown pass to Jeffery and an Eagles 21-7 lead. But they weren’t done yet. Jake Elliott booted a 38-yard field goal with four seconds left in the first half for a 24-7 halftime lead. After the Smith touchdown grab in the third period, the Vikings knew there would be nothing close to what happened last week. They beat the New Orleans Saints on the final play in the divisional round when Stefan Diggs leaped up and caught a desperation pass from Keenum and ran down the sideline for a touchdown.

They were frustrated, exasperated and perplexed as to what was transpiring in the game. But no matter. A short while later, they were resigned to going back to Minnesota and grateful to have come as far as they did. Ironically, they started the game on fire. On the game’s opening drive, they ran a clinic on the Birds defense and went 75 yards in nine plays for a touchdown and a 7-0 lead. The lead didn’t last long. The Eagles tied it when defensive back Patrick Robinson intercepted Keenum at midfield and returned it for a score.

When LeGarrette Blount bulled his way through the Vikings defense early in the second quarter on an 11-yard touchdown run the Eagles never looked back. They were underdogs last week to the Atlanta Falcons in the divisional round, but prevailed 15-10 and were underdogs to the Vikings. Staying true to form, they’re underdogs to the Patriots in the Super Bowl. The underdog has become a role the team relishes but a victory over the Patriots will put that to rest when next season arrives.