ATLANTA — An offensive explosion dominated the regular season and pumped up television ratings. Hopefully, the defensive gem the NFL concluded its 99th season with Sunday night stimulated similar interest.

The league witnessed a record 1,371 touchdowns scored during the 2018 season. There were a record number of touchdown passes thrown (847), a high for passer rating (92.9) and completion percentage (64.9). Perhaps the most exhilarating regular-season game took place in mid-November when the Rams outlasted the Chiefs 54-51, the first time in league history both teams topped 50 points in a game.

It was a year ago on this stage in Minneapolis that the Eagles and Patriots combined for 1,151 yards, the most in any game — regular season or postseason. So with the Rams, second in the NFL in scoring this year, facing the Patriots, fourth in the league in points, naturally Super Bowl LIII turned into one of the great defensive battles.

Yes, connoisseurs of defense had to be enraptured when the battle for the Lombardi Trophy was decided in a battle of field position as the Patriots captured their sixth title with a 13-3 victory over the Rams before 70,081 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, a crowd that was heavily in favor of New England and spent portions of the fourth quarter chanting “Brady!” It surpassed the Dolphins’ 14-7 win over the Redskins in Super Bowl VII as the lowest-scoring Super Bowl in history.

The Patriots are now tied with the Steelers for the most Super Bowl titles. It is the sixth for 41-year-old Tom Brady, who surpassed the Broncos’ Peyton Manning (39) as the oldest quarterback to win a Super Bowl. It’s also the sixth title for coach Bill Belichick as a head coach in his ninth appearance. He became the oldest coach to win the big game at 66.

Questions about their futures will only be natural, but Brady (21 of 35, 262 yards), in particular, continues to stave off Father Time, and his poise against a talented defense was one of the differences.

“We could’ve played better offensively,” Brady said, “but the reality is, you get into these games and you just need to figure out a way to win it.”

Similarly to how the Bears stymied the high-powered and multi-dimensional Rams offense in Week 14, the Patriots shut down the Rams and wunderkind 33-year-old coach Sean McVay, essentially sealing the game when cornerback Stephon Gilmore intercepted Jared Goff with 4 minutes, 17 seconds to play. The Patriots dialed up a zero blitz and with reserve safety Duron Harmon bearing down on Goff, the pass fluttered high in the air and was an easy play for Gilmore, who was covering Brandin Cooks. That takeaway led to a 41-yard field goal by Stephen Gostkowski with 1:12 remaining to make it a two-score game.

“I knew he was going to throw it up, and I knew I had to make a play,” said Gilmore, who also broke up three passes and forced a fumble to go with five tackles. “I knew he was going to force it up there. Our defensive line put a lot of great pressure on him, and he chucked it up and I was able to make a play.

“A lot of people doubted our defense. I would take our defense against anybody.”

Wide receiver Julian Edelman was named MVP as he had 10 catches for 141 yards, but it would have been more appropriate if a defensive player — think Gilmore — was honored after the Rams were held 30 points below their season average.

“I’m numb right now,” McVay said. “I definitely got outcoached.”

The Patriots were able to mix up their defense and that kept Goff, a third-year starter, uncertain. First, they took away the edges in the run game, like the Bears did less than two months ago when they beat the Rams 15-6. Next, they challenged Goff’s wide receivers and got physical with them, mixing coverages well. They went to twist stuns up front to generate pressure, often up the middle, and disguised where blitzes were coming from in notching four sacks.

Goff has excelled as a rhythm passer, but he couldn’t do that, and didn’t get comfortable at all until a brief stretch in the fourth quarter. He finished 19 of 38 for 229 yards. Running back Todd Gurley, who has been dogged by questions about his knee health since late in the season, carried 10 times for only 35 yards. As he did all week, Gurley, an MVP candidate at midseason, maintained he was fine.

The Rams played terrific defense themselves for their coordinator Wade Phillips. Linebacker Cory Littleton intercepted Brady’s first pass after cornerback Nickell Robey-Coleman deflected it, but the powerful combination of defensive linemen Aaron Donald and Ndamukong Suh led the Rams to only one sack. The Rams mostly bent and did not break until midway through the fourth quarter when Brady hit two long passes to tight end Rob Gronkowski to set up Sony Michel’s 2-yard touchdown run.

The greatness of the Patriots, who have participated in half of the last 18 Super Bowls, can be defined by the many ways they find to achieve success. This year, they did it against the odds at times. The 11 wins they had in the regular season were their fewest in nine years. The five losses all came against non-playoff teams and at multiple times they appeared flawed, like after losses in Jacksonville and Detroit in Weeks 2 and 3 and in Weeks 14 and 15 when they lost in Miami and Pittsburgh. They were in danger of failing to earn a first-round playoff bye but closed the slate by beating up on the Bills and Jets and then rolling into the playoffs.

“Everybody counted us out from the beginning of the season,” Belichick said.

Gronkowski has said he will take a few weeks to determine his future. Brady has maintained all along he will be back and there’s no reason to think Belichick won’t be back. The dynasty keeps rolling on with the latest chapter — thanks to a suffocating defensive performance — the most unlikely since the Patriots’ first Super Bowl triumph, 17 years ago to the day being a major upset of the Rams in Super Bowl XXXVI.

bmbiggs@chicagotribune.com

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