Minneapolis ? This is what I came back for.”

For the adrenaline rush. For the in-your-face touchdown. For another shot at the Super Bowl.

Brett Favre wanted all of it, and now he’s got it.

Four — count ’em, four — touchdown passes from Minnesota’s 40-year-old quarterback sent the Vikings to the NFC championship game with a determined 34-3 rout of the Dallas Cowboys on Sunday.

“Probably the most fatigued I got today was celebrating,” Favre said, smiling.

The Vikings (13-4) will take on the Saints next Sunday at New Orleans (14-3), with the winner going to the Super Bowl in Miami.

Favre found Sidney Rice for three scores and put an exclamation point on the final one when his fourth-and-three pass from the 11 was caught in the end zone by Visanthe Shiancoe after the two-minute warning.

Never in 22 previous playoff games had Favre thrown for four scores, and never before had he beaten Dallas in the postseason after losses to the Cowboys ended his first three playoff experiences with Green Bay.

Favre finished 15-for-24 for 234 yards without a turnover, slapping fives with anyone in reach and rapidly pumping his right arm after each score.

“I feel like I’m playing the same way. I have the same enthusiasm,” Favre said. “As long as I’m out there, the enthusiasm and the passion that you see is real. And I know the guys feed off of that. Fans enjoy that, because it is real and genuine.”

Favre even added another accomplishment as the first 40-year-old quarterback to win a playoff game.

“Today was like this season: It’s been wonderful,” said Favre, whose only championship came 13 years ago with the Packers.

The Vikings, who had last week off while the Cowboys whipped Philadelphia, were bothered by all the people picking Dallas to win.

“The Tasmanian devils were coming from Dallas that were about to bombard the state of Minnesota and run through us like Sherman through the South,” coach Brad Childress said, exaggerating the popular opinion about this game. “All of us felt it quite palpably.”

Ray Edwards led the Minnesota defense’s harassment of Tony Romo, who sat stone-faced on the bench between possessions in the second half after a three-turnover game.

“Any time you come in with the expectations and goals we set and don’t accomplish them, No. 1, it’s frustrating,” Romo said, taking a long pause. “Right now, it’s just hard to think the season is over.”