PHILADELPHIA — The Philadelphia Eagles’ season did not end six weeks ago in the fading Southern California daylight, when the star quarterback Carson Wentz tore a knee ligament. Nor did it end four weeks ago, when his replacement, Nick Foles, slogged through an ugly victory on Christmas night. Nor did it end last week, when the Eagles, underdogs at home despite holding the N.F.C.’s top seed, eked out a playoff win.

Now the Eagles know for sure when their season will end.

No matter what, it will conclude on Feb. 4 at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, site of Super Bowl LII, just as they said it would, as they knew it would. Philadelphia got there Sunday by trampling Minnesota in a 38-7 rout in the N.F.C. championship. The margin of victory defied all good sense to anyone following both teams over the last month but affirmed all that which the Eagles believed.

“I mean, when you execute, that’s what it looks like,” receiver Torrey Smith said.

The players told themselves and each other, and anyone else who would listen, that they would advance, that they could minimize Wentz’s absence because of the talent that remained and the coaches who would lead them.

By nature and nurture, a certain fatalism courses through the fans here. Winning one major professional sports championship since 1983 underpins that inferiority complex. The Eagles have won the second-most playoff games (17) in the Super Bowl era without winning a title.