MINNEAPOLIS — The wrong colored confetti flew down from the roof of U.S. Bank Stadium last night because a defense that has been suspect all season finally turned criminal and killed the Patriots.

The New England Patriots reached Super Bowl LII with the second-lowest ranked defense in Super Bowl history behind it. They also did it with the lowest ranked defense all-time in 2011. Both times they lost because, well, if you can never, ever stop your opponent, not even Tom Brady can save you.

The Pats entered their Super Bowl LII showdown with the Philadelphia Eagles armed with the best offense in football and the 29th-ranked defense. When they tried that in 2011, they faced the New York Giants with the 31st-ranked defense. Despite having scored 513 points that season they were beaten, 21-17.

Last night, they came to Minneapolis armed with the league’s No. 1-ranked offense, a unit that also finished second in the league in points scored with 459. But their defense gave up yards at a ridiculous rate all year, and last night that fatal flaw finally caught up with them.

Led by second-string quarterback Nick Foles, the Eagles piled up 538 yards in what became a 41-33 beatdown in which the Eagles scored eight of the 10 times they had the ball, including on their final five possessions.

Not even a 505-yard, three-touchdown performance by 40-year-old Tom Brady could hold off the Eagles, whose fourth-ranked defense had plenty of its own struggles but did just enough, barely, to give them breathing room they needed to win their first Super Bowl title.

“For us, it was all about one stop we had to make,” said Eagles defensive end Brandon Graham, whose strip sack of Brady with 2:09 to play basically iced the Pats. “We went out there and made that one stop. Our offense carried us today, but when we needed to make a stop our defense came through.”

It did and the Patriots’ did not. There was no real surprise in the amount of yardage the defense surrendered. After all, this has been going on all season. The Patriots ranked 29th in total yards allowed this season, 31st in yards allowed per play, and their 30th-ranked pass defense showed last night.

And it will forever remain a curious question as to why their second best cornerback, Malcolm Butler, was left standing on the sidelines all game, his darkened helmet mask hiding his face. Butler, the hero of Super Bowl XLIX three years ago, did not play a single defensive snap, a decision that proved costly. The Patriots mumbled it was a “coach’s decision” — and that was obvious. What was also obvious was, despite Bill Belichick’s often heard mantra, it was not a decision made “in the best interest of the team.” At least not in the best interest of the defense Foles lacerated.

Early in the game, he and wideout Alshon Jeffery turned Butler’s replacement, Eric Rowe, inside out time and again, beating him until something had to be done. Apparently that something was not to let the Butler do it.

“Malcolm Butler didn’t play?” said an astonished Chris Long, the Eagles defensive end who a year ago won a Super Bowl wearing Patriots colors. “That’s tough, man. Golleee! I didn’t know that. He’s a hell of a player.”

The Patriots certainly could have used one, but instead the decision was made to switch Stephon Gilmore on Jeffery, and he did a great job. But that left weak links like Johnson Bademosi and Jordan Richards too often in coverages, or strong safety Patrick Chung in unfavorable matchups that Foles exploited.

The worse it got, the stiffer Butler stood on the sidelines. During the playing of the national anthem he’d begun to weep, and some believed perhaps he was overcome with the thought that this might be his last game as a Patriot.

As it turned out, the AFC Championship Game was his last — and that decision cost the Pats dearly.

Up and down the sidelines Butler paced, often standing a few feet behind Belichick or his son/safeties coach, Steve. They never looked at him and he never spoke to them.

From time to time, Butler went over to encourage Rowe and the other defensive backs who kept getting torched in the worst of situations, situations not aided one bit by a nonexistent pass rush. Brady kept trying to get them back in the game. He even briefly got them a second half lead, but the defense couldn’t hold it.

On this night. they couldn’t hold much of anything, least of all a flock of soaring Eagles.

Finally, Brady ran out of time, and perhaps the Patriots’ dynasty has as well. You cannot survive with a defense that can apply no pressure on opposing quarterbacks forever. You cannot survive with a secondary that too often gives up yards in chunks as big as an iceberg. And you cannot survive when your second best cornerback is left to stew on the sidelines in a game in which you’ve giving up 41 points.

You can’t always rely on opponents’ mistakes, or referees’ kindness, or replay officials’ stubborn refusal to understand that replay was installed not to make mistakes but to correct them. You cannot rely on outside sources or a magical quarterback if you can’t stop the opposition at all,and that was the circumstance last night.

Yet the total collapse of the Patriots defense was stunning in its completeness. The Eagles trampled them for 164 rushing yards and skewered them in the passing game for chunk plays of 55, 36, 34, 26, 24, 22 twice and 21 yards — and expect to win very often.

It was a stunning display of futility that allowed the Eagles to convert 10-of-16 third downs, and twice on fourth down tries. Even that might have been overcome by Brady’s obvious brilliance had they maintained a constant ability to save themselves with a stingy red zone defense that had allowed them to finish fifth in points allowed despite their largesse. They were better there, holding the Eagles to only a 50 percent conversion rate. But the points kept coming, including a bold fourth-and-1 call at the Pats 1-yard line in which Foles suddenly split wide and Philly ran a trick play that ended with former college quarterback turned tight end Trey Burton taking a flip on a reverse, running to his right and then lofting the ball to a wide-open Foles in the flat for the touchdown.

“You really want to know what we call it?” Eagles coach Doug Pederson said. “Philly Special.”

It was indeed special on a night when the Patriots defense was not. It was their Achilles heel and last night it snapped. With it, went the Patriots’ season.