How the Rules for Overtime in NFL Over the Years?
The current overtime NFL rules seek to give both teams a justified fighting chance in overtime. Unlike previous times, today, both teams get an equal chance to receive the ball. Find out about overtime rules here!
Green Bay Packers v Philadelphia Eagles//Getty Images
Referee Clay Martin//Getty Images
While the National Football League (NFL) has always been a fun sport for fans, keeping up with the evolving overtime rules can be an uphill task.
Whenever an NFL game ends with a tie score, each team gets two bonus timeouts. The team in question go head-on in a modified sudden-death overtime system, that focuses on determining the winner.
At the beginning of overtime, both teams have players centered at midfield for a coin toss, which determines the team that gets the ball first. The visiting team’s captain makes a choice between heads or tails and he also establishes what action will follow the coin-flip outcome.
Between 1974 and 2010, a tie was cut by a 15-minute sudden-death period. In 2010 though, the NFL introduced a ‘modified sudden-death’ that dictated, a first-possession touch down would put a game to the end. However, after a first-possession field goal, the opposing team would also have the chance to possess the ball.
In 2017, NFL clubs shortened overtime, in the regular season, to 10 minutes from the previous 15 minutes. The rule change was driven by the need to improve player safety. The most recent change was instituted in 2022, when NFL owners approved a rule change that dictated that both teams have an opportunity to possess the ball during a playoff game in the overtime.
Considering all the changes, SportsBoom has established the NFL’s updated overtime rules for a regular season and post-season.
The NFL's Regular-Season Overtime Rules
Referee Adrian Hill and umpire Roy Ellison//Getty Images
- The referee tosses a coin at the end of regulation, to determine the team that will possess the ball first in overtime. The captain of the visiting team calls the toss.
- After a three-minute intermission, there goes a 10-minute period and each team has an opportunity to possess the ball.
- However, there is an exception if the team that possess the ball first scores a touchdown on the opening possession. Thus rule has sparked debate because if the team that wins the flip coin scores a touchdown first, the opponent loses automatically and has no chance of possessing the ball.
- Sudden-death play continues until a winner is determined ending the game on any score, either safety, field goal, or touch down.
- There are two timeouts for each team.
- There is no attempt for point-after try if the game ends on a touchdown.
- If there is still a try at the end of the overtime period, the game outcome is recorded as a tie.
The NFL's Post-Season Overtime Rules
Tim Patrick hands the ball to a referee//Getty Images
The overtime rules for playoff games are slightly different since it is impossible to end playoffs with a tie. The rules are as follows:
- If there is still a tie at the end of the overtime period, or if the second team’s position has not yet ended, another overtime period is activated. The gameplay continues until a winner is determined, regardless of the required number of overtime periods.
- A two-minute intermission is taken between overtime periods. However, there is no halftime intermission after the second period.
- The captain who lost the first overtime coin toss either chooses to possess the ball or selects the goal that his team will defend. There is an exception to this rule if the team that won the coin toss deferred that choice.
- Each team has a chance to possess the ball in overtime.
- Each team receives three timeouts during a half.
- The timing rules that govern the second and fourth regulation periods apply at the end of a second or fourth overtime.
- Another coin toss happens at the end of a fourth overtime period if no winner has been established yet. The play continues until a winner is established.
Ian Mugo Wanyeki is based in Nairobi, Kenya. He is a sports enthusiast with vast knowledge of different sport disciplines. Ian is a graduate with a Bachelor’s of Science degree from Kenyatta University. He is a Kenyan journalist who’s worked as a sports analyst at Covenant Television Network, as a sports reporter at NTV and as a Sports Correspondent/contributor at Quartz Africa.