The NFL is always looking for ways to make its on-field product better, and in recent years, that has involved adjusting some of the league's long-held overtime rules.
When overtime was introduced to the NFL in the 1950s, the league kept the rules governing it simple. It was a sudden-death contest and the first team to score would win.
Over the last 13 years, the NFL has seen those rules change. It started gradually, as the league first decided that overtime should no longer be a true sudden-death period; it was only a sudden-death period if a touchdown was scored.
But the league has continued to tweak the rules in recent years. In 2022, the NFL instituted an amended rule that allowed both teams a guaranteed shot to get the ball during a postseason overtime. This came in wake of the Bills' 42-36 loss to the Chiefs in the 2022 AFC divisional round, when Kansas City received the opening kickoff of the extra frame and marched to score an easy touchdown against Buffalo.
That provided an anticlimactic ending to an otherwise thrilling game and made many across the league rethink the overtime period.
MORE: How Bills vs. Chiefs helped change the NFL's playoff OT format
There are bound to be NFL games that go into overtime in 2023. After all, in the first two years of the 17-game schedule, 41 total contests have been decided in extra time — 21 in 2021 and 20 in 2022.
So, what are the overtime rules for 2023? Here's what to know about the NFL's extra time and when it will be used to (potentially) determine the winner of a game.
NFL overtime rules 2023
The NFL's overtime rules underwent a major change during the 2022 offseason when the league made a change to ensure both teams would get to possess the ball at least once during the postseason overtime period. Previously, the team to receive the ball could end the game if a touchdown was scored.
That change was a seismic shift in the NFL's landscape, but it didn't prove impactful. None of the postseason games in 2023 went into overtime; 20 did in the regular season, but those games still had the opportunity for the receiving team to score a sudden-death touchdown to end the game.
Entering the 2023 NFL season, there have been no changes to the overtime rules at all. As such, fans can expect to overtime to look the same as it has in recent seasons — unless a postseason game goes into overtime for the first time under the new ruleset.
Below is a basic run-down of the NFL's overtime rules for 2023, which can also be found here.
NFL overtime rules for preseason
- If you're wondering why there weren't any overtime games in the preseason, it's because the NFL abolished preseason overtime in 2021. If teams are tied at the end of regulation, the game is ruled a tie.
NFL overtime rules for regular season
- At the end of regulation, the referee will toss a coin to determine which team will possess the ball first in overtime. The visiting team captain will call the toss.
- No more than one 10-minute period will follow a three-minute intermission. Each team must possess, or have the opportunity to possess, the ball. The exception: if the team that gets the ball first scores a touchdown on the opening possession.
- Sudden death play — where the game ends on any score (safety, field goal or touchdown) — continues until a winner is determined.
- Each team gets two timeouts.
- The point after try is not attempted if the game ends on a touchdown.
- If the score is still tied at the end of the overtime period, the result of the game will be recorded as a tie.
- There are no instant replay coach’s challenges; all reviews will be initiated by the replay official.
NFL overtime rules for playoff games
- If the score is still tied at the end of an overtime period — or if the second team’s initial possession has not ended — the teams will play another overtime period. Play will continue regardless of how many overtime periods are needed for a winner to be determined.
- There will be a two-minute intermission between each overtime period. There will not be a halftime intermission after the second period.
- The captain who lost the first overtime coin toss will either choose to possess the ball or select which goal his team will defend, unless the team that won the coin toss deferred that choice.
- Each team will have an opportunity to possess the ball in overtime.
- Each team gets three timeouts during a half.
- The same timing rules that apply at the end of the second and fourth regulation periods also apply at the end of a second or fourth overtime period.
- If there is still no winner at the end of a fourth overtime period, there will be another coin toss, and play will continue until a winner is declared.
MORE: Who will be the NFL coach fired in 2023?
NFL overtime rule change proposals
In the first 50-plus years of the NFL's existence, the league's overtime rules remained largely untouched. However, beginning in 2010, the NFL started to make some changes to the rules, first targeting the sudden-death rule for playoff games. Since then, there have been plenty of minor changes — and proposed changes — to the NFL's overtime rules.
Below is a brief recap of each notable rule change proposal and whether it has succeeded or failed.
2010: NFL changes postseason overtime rules
The NFL first changed its sudden-death overtime rules in 2010. At that time, the NFL adopted new overtime rules for the postseason alone. The major change was that a made field goal no longer ended overtime; only a touchdown on the first possession would end the extra period.
The goal of this change was to prevent the coin toss from having a major impact on overtime games. Prior to the rule change, the team that won the coin toss was winning 60 percent of the time and 34.4 percent of the time on the first possession.
2012: NFL implements postseason OT rules in regular season
The NFL was pleased with how its postseason overtime rule changes worked, so it expanded them to the regular season.
2017: NFL shortens overtime
In 2017, the NFL opted to shorten overtime from 15 minutes — the length of a typical quarter — to 10. According to commissioner Roger Goodell, this change was made in the name of player safety.
"We think this is an important change, particularly for teams that may be into an overtime situation and a lengthy overtime situation that may have to come back and play on a Thursday night, so this is another positive change," Goodell said, per NFL.com.
2019: Chiefs proposal for both teams to receive ball fails
The Chiefs benefitted from the NFL's overtime rules against the Bills in 2022, but they were on the wrong side of a defeat against the Patriots in 2019. The Patriots got the ball first in overtime and never looked back, marching the length of the field to defeat Patrick Mahomes and Co.
“I think everybody wants a chance for guys to do what they do," Chiefs general manager Brett Veach told Pro Football Talk when asked about the rule change proposal in March of 2019. "I don’t really see the downside of having that. Especially when you have a player like Pat Mahomes. It would have been a lot of fun. I think people, if they weren’t already tuned in for a great game, would have turned on that overtime.”
As such, the Chiefs made a proposal to allow both teams to possess the ball in the postseason. They also requested to eliminate the overtime coin toss and just rely on the one at the beginning of regulation to decide who gets to choose whether to kick, receive or which side to defend.
2020: Eagles look to change coin-toss rules, are denied
The Eagles were the next team to target a change in the NFL's overtime rules, but theirs was specifically aimed at the coin toss.
Philadelphia proposed a rule that would have essentially declared the team that scored more touchdowns during regulation the coin-toss winner. That team would have the same options as the team that wins a coin toss. If the teams had an equal number of touchdowns, they would just do a normal coin toss.
The Eagles' proposal garnered little support and Philadelphia came up with a new proposal to change things in 2021.
2021: Ravens and Eagles' "spot and choose" overtime proposal shut down
The Ravens and Eagles came up with a joint proposal to keep sudden death intact for NFL overtimes but provide the team that loses the coin toss with a say in the outcome.
Under the "spot and choose" proposal, the winner of the coin toss can choose to start on offense, defense or where to spot the ball to begin overtime. For example, a team could choose to receive the ball, but then their opponent could choose to spot the ball at their own 1-yard line, making it necessary for the team on offense to drive the length of the field for a game-winning touchdown.
Conversely, a team could choose to spot the ball on their own 15-yard line and that would force their opponent to make the difficult choice about whether they'd like to be on offense or defense.
This system would have ensured that the team winning the coin toss wouldn't automatically benefit from it. If they elect to receive, they could see the ball placed deep in their own territory. And if they elect to spot the ball, they would most likely have to play on defense.
Ultimately, the rule didn't gain enough support to pass, but the NFL did test it out at the 2022 Pro Bowl in place of kickoffs.
2022: NFL to allow both teams to possess ball in overtime
NFL overtime changed in 2022 to allow both teams to possess the ball in the extra period, specifically during the playoffs. Previously, if the receiving team scored a touchdown on its first drive, the game would be over.
The regular-season overtime rules remained unchanged despite the postseason switch. The ruling here was heavily influenced by the Bills failing to get the ball back in their 2022 AFC divisional round game against the Chiefs. Kansas City won the game 42-36 after getting the ball on the first possession of overtime.
MORE: Full history of the NFL's overtime rule changes since 2010
History of NFL overtime rules
The first overtime game in NFL history occurred on Aug. 28, 1955. The Rams and Giants squared off in that contest and used the sudden-death rules, which had been invented by game promoter Harry Glickman, to determine the game. The Rams won it, and the overtime format was adopted and eventually used during the 1958 NFL championship.
The NFL continued to roll with that model before implementing sudden-death overtime for regular-season games 16 years later. In the original format, the first team to score any points at all won the game. That included kicking a game-winning field goal.
That sudden-death format continued to be the NFL's preferred overtime choice for 35 years. However, in 2010, the league amended the rule for playoff games. Field goals no longer counted as sudden-death game-enders for the team that received the ball first. Only a first-possession touchdown by the receiving team would end overtime without both teams getting a possession.
Two years after that change was implemented for the postseason, it was expanded to preseason and regular season games.
In 2017, the length of the overtime period was changed from 15 minutes to 10 minutes. In 2021, the NFL officially eliminated overtime from preseason games. Both of these changes were made in the name of player safety, as it limited the number of snaps played in a contest.
Finally, the most recent NFL overtime change in 2022 ensures that each team will be able to possess the ball in overtime of a playoff game. Sudden death only kicks in after the first team has had its possession, regardless of whether they score a touchdown.
