Back to the SB game, it was a great game of defense. It was almost refreshing to see a defensive led game. The NFL has changed so many rules to make the game a game of offense. The thinking is more points scored = more excitement. Not always. On the shoot out games where both teams are scoring 30+ points per game, it's sad to see defenses look almost non-existent.
Football fans say the SB game sucked. It's in part because we've become used to seeing higher scoring games over the last 15 years. Check out the super bowl final scores all time. I highlighted by winning scores of 21 points or lower by the winning team. There have been 5 SB games with low scoring outcomes in the last 17 years.
I Jan. 15, 1967 Green Bay 35, Kansas City 10
II Jan. 14, 1968 Green Bay 33, Oakland 14
III Jan. 12, 1969 New York Jets 16, Baltimore 7
IV Jan. 11, 1970 Kansas City 23, Minnesota 7
V Jan. 17, 1971 Baltimore 16, Dallas 13
VI Jan. 16, 1972 Dallas 24, Miami 3
VII Jan. 14, 1973 Miami 14, Washington 7
VIII Jan. 13, 1974 Miami 24, Minnesota 7
IX Jan. 12, 1975 Pittsburgh 16, Minnesota 6
X Jan. 18, 1976 Pittsburgh 21, Dallas 17
XI Jan. 9, 1977 Oakland 32, Minnesota 14
XII Jan. 15, 1978 Dallas 27, Denver 10
XIII Jan. 21, 1979 Pittsburgh 35, Dallas 31
XIV Jan. 20, 1980 Pittsburgh 31, Los Angeles Rams 19
XV Jan. 25, 1981 Oakland 27, Philadelphia 10
XVI Jan. 24, 1982 San Francisco 26, Cincinnati 21
XVII Jan. 30, 1983 Washington 27, Miami 17
XVIII Jan. 22, 1984 Los Angeles Raiders 38, Washington 9
XIX Jan. 20, 1985 San Francisco 38, Miami 16
XX Jan. 26, 1986 Chicago 46, New England 10
XXI Jan. 25, 1987 New York Giants 39, Denver 20
XXII Jan. 31, 1988 Washington 42, Denver 10
XXIII Jan. 22, 1989 San Francisco 20, Cincinnati 16
XXIV Jan. 28, 1990 San Francisco 55, Denver 10
XXV Jan. 27, 1991 New York Giants 20, Buffalo 19
XXVI Jan. 26, 1992 Washington 37, Buffalo 24
XXVIIJan. 31, 1993 Dallas 52, Buffalo 17
XXVIIIJan. 30, 1994 Dallas 30, Buffalo 13
XXIX Jan. 29, 1995 San Francisco 49, San Diego 26
XXX Jan. 28, 1996 Dallas 27, Pittsburgh 17
XXXI Jan. 26, 1997 Green Bay 35, New England 21
XXXIIJan. 25, 1998 Denver 31, Green Bay 24
XXXIIIJan. 31, 1999 Denver 34, Atlanta 19
XXXIVJan. 30, 2000 St. Louis 23, Tennessee 16
XXXVJan. 28, 2001 Baltimore 34, New York Giants 7
XXXVIFeb. 3, 2002 New England 20, St. Louis 17
XXXVIIJan. 26, 2003 Tampa Bay 48, Oakland 21
XXXVIIIFeb. 1, 2004 New England 32, Carolina 29
XXXIXFeb. 6, 2005 New England 24, Philadelphia 21
XL Feb. 5, 2006 Pittsburgh 21, Seattle 10
XLI Feb. 4, 2007 Indianapolis 29, Chicago 17
XLII Feb. 3, 2008 New York Giants 17, New England 14
XLIII Feb. 1, 2009 Pittsburgh 27, Arizona 23
XLIV Feb. 7, 2010 New Orleans 31, Indianapolis 17
XLV Feb. 6, 2011 Green Bay 31, Pittsburgh 25
XLVI Feb. 5, 2012 New York Giants 21, New England 17
XLVIIFeb. 3, 2013 Baltimore 34, San Francisco 31
XLVIIIFeb. 2, 2014 Seattle 43, Denver 8
XLIX Feb. 1, 2015 New England 28, Seattle 24
50 Feb. 7, 2016 Denver 24, Carolina 10
LI Feb. 5, 2017 New England 34, Atlanta 28
LII Feb. 4, 2018 Philadelphia 41, New England 33
LIII Feb. 3, 2019 New England 13, Los Angeles Rams 3
Were all of those lower scoring games bad games? Not all of them. Some of them were really good. Conversely, some of the higher scoring games were bad games.
All in all, fans want to see a good game and what constitutes a good game varies from person to person.