NFL overtime gives both teams a guaranteed possession before the game can end on a single score. That rule now applies to every game, regular season and playoffs alike, since 2025. Before that, only the playoffs worked that way. A tied game after four quarters triggers a coin toss right away. Next comes a 10-minute extra period in the regular season, or a 15-minute period in the playoffs, followed by true sudden death once both teams have had a fair shot with the ball.
That guarantee sounds simple. The exact mechanics, and the real differences between a regular-season overtime and a playoff one, still trip up plenty of fans watching a close game.
How NFL Overtime Actually Works
A game that’s tied at the end of regulation moves straight to a coin toss, with no break for warmups or lineup changes. The team that wins the toss picks one of three options: receive the kickoff, kick off instead, or choose which end zone to defend. It can also defer that choice to the other team entirely.
From there, the guarantee kicks in. If the team that gets the ball first scores a touchdown, the other team still gets a possession of its own. A matching touchdown sends the game to true sudden death, where any score at all wins. Missing that mark ends the game immediately. A field goal on the opening possession works the same way. The second team gets a chance to tie or win, and anything short of that ends the game right there.
A safety on the very first possession ends the game on the spot. The team that forced it takes over with the lead already locked in. Once both teams have possessed the ball and the score still sits tied, every following score wins the game. Nobody waits for a second chance after that point.
The Overtime Coin Toss, Explained
Team captains, not coaches, handle the actual coin toss, the same as they do before kickoff at the start of the game. The visiting team’s captain typically calls the toss while it’s in the air. The winning team gets first pick among receiving, kicking, or choosing an end zone to defend.
The coin toss carried far more weight before 2022. A team that won the toss and scored a touchdown on its first drive used to win outright. It didn’t matter how good the other offense looked. Guaranteeing both teams a possession didn’t eliminate the coin toss. It did take away the single biggest reason to dread losing it, though.
Regular Season vs. Playoff Overtime: The Real Differences
The two formats share the same possession guarantee now. Real differences still remain once that first extra period starts. Regular-season overtime runs a single 10-minute period. If nobody has the lead once that period ends, the game goes in the books as a tie, and both teams share the result in the standings.
Playoff overtime never allows a tie. Every postseason game keeps playing 15-minute periods, as many as it takes, until one team leads at the end of a period. For the complete breakdown of how that fits into the full playoff bracket, see sportDA’s playoff format explainer. College football handles overtime completely differently again, skipping the clock in favor of alternating possessions. sportDA’s college football vs. NFL rules guide covers that contrast in full.
One more playoff-only wrinkle applies deep into extra football. If a game somehow reaches a third overtime period, the team that lost the first overtime coin toss gets to choose instead. It picks whether to take the ball or which end to defend, a small fairness adjustment the regular season never needs since games there stop after one period.
How We Got Here: NFL Overtime’s Rule History
Sudden death overtime dates back further than most fans realize. The 1958 NFL Championship between the Baltimore Colts and New York Giants, still nicknamed “The Greatest Game Ever Played,” went to sudden death first. That happened decades before the league made overtime a permanent regular-season fixture in 1974. Under that original format, whichever team scored first, by any means, won instantly.
The league softened that format in 2010, but only for the postseason at first. A touchdown on the opening possession still ended the game. A field goal no longer did, though, and the other team got a chance to answer. That “modified sudden death” rule expanded to every regular-season game in 2012. The extra period itself shrank from 15 minutes to 10 in 2017 for the regular season, a change aimed squarely at player safety.
The biggest shift came in 2022, and it traces directly back to one game. Kansas City beat Buffalo 42-36 in the AFC Divisional Round that January. The Chiefs won the overtime coin toss and scored a touchdown on the very first possession. Buffalo’s offense never even touched the ball. The outcry that followed pushed owners to guarantee both teams a possession in every playoff game starting that year. The regular season kept the old rule until 2025, when the league finally extended that same guarantee there too.
Frequently Asked Questions
How does NFL overtime work if the first team scores a touchdown?
The second team still gets a possession of its own. A matching touchdown sends the game to true sudden death, where the next score of any kind wins. Falling short of that ends the game immediately.
Can an NFL regular-season game end in a tie?
Yes. If neither team leads after one 10-minute overtime period, the game officially ends in a tie, and both teams carry that result into the standings.
Can a playoff game end in a tie?
No. Playoff overtime keeps playing 15-minute periods until a team finally leads at the end of one, since the postseason bracket requires a winner to advance.
What happens in the coin toss before overtime?
Team captains call the toss in the air. The winning team chooses to receive, kick, or defend a specific end zone, or it can defer that choice entirely to the other team.
When did the NFL change its overtime rules?
The biggest recent change came in 2022, when the league guaranteed both teams a possession in playoff overtime after a controversial AFC Divisional Round game. That same guarantee extended to regular-season games starting in 2025.
How long is an NFL overtime period?
Ten minutes in the regular season and 15 minutes in the playoffs. Playoff games can play multiple periods if nobody leads once one period ends.
What happens if a playoff game reaches a third overtime?
The team that lost the coin toss for the first overtime period gets to choose whether to take the ball or pick which end to defend. A second coin flip doesn’t decide it.
How does NFL overtime work in the simplest terms? Both teams get a real shot with the ball, and the coin toss matters less than it used to. The only thing that still separates the regular season from the playoffs is whether the game can end in a tie at all. That single distinction has decided plenty of postseason runs, and it’s worth knowing before the next overtime game kicks off. For the broader rulebook context behind it, see sportDA’s American football ultimate guide.
