If a game is level after sixty minutes, it goes to overtime, and the rules are not quite what you would guess. It is no longer pure sudden death: both teams now get a chance with the ball.
The old rule, and why it changed
From 1974, overtime was sudden death in the purest sense. First score of any kind, and the game was over.
The problem was the coin toss. Win it, take the ball, drive down the field, and the other team could lose without ever touching it. For decades that was accepted as rough justice. Then came a game that made it impossible to defend.
On 23 January 2022, Kansas City played Buffalo in the playoffs. The two teams traded scores in the last two minutes of regulation in a way almost nobody watching had seen before. It finished level, so it went to overtime. Kansas City won the coin toss, drove the length of the field, scored a touchdown, and won 42-36.
Buffalo’s Josh Allen had thrown four touchdowns that night. He never got the ball back. He did not have a single snap in overtime, and his afternoon ended standing on the sideline watching. One of the best games anyone could remember had been decided by a coin flip.
The league changed the rule that year for the playoffs, guaranteeing both teams a possession. In 2025 it extended the same principle to the regular season. A touchdown on the opening drive no longer ends the game.
How overtime works now: the regular season
There is a short break, then a coin toss, and ten minutes on the clock. The rulebook sets it out:
NFL rulebook, Rule 16, Section 1, Article 3 (Overtime in Regular Season). Following an intermission of no more than three minutes after the end of a regular season game, an extra period of 10 minutes shall commence… (a) Both teams must have the opportunity to possess the ball once during the extra period… (d) There shall be a maximum of one 10-minute period, even if the second team has not had an opportunity to possess the ball or if its initial possession has not ended. If the score is tied at the end of the period, the game shall result in a tie.
In plain terms, it runs like this. Both teams are guaranteed a go with the ball, so the team that wins the toss can score a touchdown and still have to hand it over. Once both have had their set of downs, whoever is ahead wins. If they are still level after both possessions, it reverts to proper sudden death and the next score of any kind takes it. Each team gets two timeouts.
There is one exception written into the rule itself, and it is narrower than people tend to think:
…unless the team kicking off to start the overtime period scores a safety on the receiving team’s initial possession, in which case the team that kicked off is the winner.
So a safety by the kicking team ends it on the spot. A defensive touchdown ends it too, but for a different reason: intercepting the ball means that team has now had its possession, so the guarantee is satisfied and the lead stands.
And if nobody has scored when the ten minutes run out, that is that. The game is a tie.
How overtime works in the playoffs
In January nobody can go home level, so the rules change shape.
NFL rulebook, Rule 16, Section 1, Article 4 (Overtime in Postseason). …an extra period of 15 minutes shall commence… (d) If the score is tied at the end of a 15-minute overtime period, or if the second team’s initial possession has not ended, another overtime period will begin, and play will continue, regardless of how many 15-minute periods are necessary.
Fifteen-minute periods rather than ten, and as many as it takes. If one period ends level they simply start another one and keep going. Both teams are still guaranteed their possession, and once both have had it the next score wins.
The Super Bowl runs under these same playoff rules, which is how the game can stretch well past the four hours you had budgeted for it. The longest days in the sport are in the Super Bowl records.
Yes, a game can still end in a tie
This surprises people, so it is worth saying plainly: a regular-season game can finish level and simply stop. If neither team scores in the ten minutes, it goes in the books as a tie.
It is rare, and rarer than you might assume. Some seasons produce none at all. When Green Bay and Dallas finished 40-40 in September 2025, it was the first tie in the NFL since 2022, and the second highest-scoring tie the league has ever had.
In the standings a tie counts as half a win and half a loss to both sides, which is why you will see records written as 9-7-1 rather than just wins and losses.
None of this applies in the playoffs. Somebody has to advance.
Common questions
How does overtime work in the NFL?
If the scores are level after sixty minutes, the game goes to overtime: a single ten-minute period in the regular season, or fifteen-minute periods in the playoffs, repeated until somebody wins. A coin toss decides who gets the ball first, and both teams are guaranteed a possession before it becomes sudden death.
Can an NFL game end in a tie?
Yes, but only in the regular season, and only if neither team is ahead when the ten minutes run out. It is rare, and some seasons have none at all. Playoff games cannot end in a tie: they keep playing until one team leads.
Is NFL overtime still sudden death?
Partly. It is no longer sudden death from the first snap, because both teams are guaranteed a possession, so an opening touchdown does not end the game. Once both teams have had the ball, sudden death applies and the next score wins.
Where to go next
- NFL rules decoded: how the whole game fits together
- NFL downs explained: what a possession actually consists of
- Scoring decoded: every way to put points on the board, including the ones that end an overtime
- Super Bowl records: the longest and highest-scoring games the sport has had
Want it straight from the source? Overtime is Rule 16 of the official NFL rulebook, published by NFL Football Operations.xplains the rules with real clips.