What happens if no one scores in overtime nfl

If the first team to possess the ball in overtime scores a touchdown, the game is over -- without the second team even having an opportunity on offense. This gives the team that wins the coin toss a huge advantage. Teams that have come out on the losing end of this proposition, like the Kansas City Chiefs in the AFC Championship, have suggested various rule changes, to no avail so far. While the rule that a touchdown ends the game is unpopular, it used to be even worse: The game would end if the team that won the coin toss scored a field goal, too.

Each team receives two timeouts during a regular-season overtime and three timeouts in a postseason overtime. If the game ends on a touchdown, the extra point is not attempted. Coaches are not allowed to challenge instant replay calls during overtime. In almost 66 percent of the NFL regular season games in , the team trailing in the fourth quarter was within just one score of tying the game or taking the lead.

Inevitably, with so many games so close, some will end with a tie score at the end of regulation. Learn the rules of the game in the searchable NFL Rulebook. Related Content. Evolution of the NFL Rules The custodians of football not only have protected its integrity, but have also revised its playing rules to protect the players, and to make the games fairer and more entertaining. Back to Top. Many argue the existence of that rule gives too much value to something as random as a coin toss.

Last year's Saints became victims of the NFL's overtime rules when Drew Brees and New Orleans' offense helplessly watched the Vikings drive down the field for a touchdown in overtime of a playoff game without getting a chance to match. Super Bowl 51 ended when the Patriots scored on their first possession of overtime against the Falcons. These high-profile recent examples are major reasons why multiple teams have proposed changes to the NFL's overtime rules in recent years.

Following the aforementioned heartbreak in the AFC title game, Kansas City proposed a rule change that would allow both teams the opportunity to possess the ball at least one time in overtime, even if the first team to possess the ball in overtime scores a touchdown. That proposal was tabled by the NFL competition committee and eventually dropped. More recently, the Eagles submitted a proposal that would have changed the time in an overtime period — it's currently 10 minutes — but that idea suffered the same fate.

So for now, the NFL's overtime rules are the same as they have been for the last four years. Below is the NFL's overtime format, plus a more detailed explanation of the recent overtime rule change proposals. The NFL's overtime rules were amended as recently as , when the overtime period was shortened from 15 minutes to 10 minutes in the name of player safety.

The sudden-death NFL overtime format we know today was established in It gives both teams the chance to possess the ball at least once in overtime unless — and this is key — the team that receives the overtime kickoff scores a touchdown on its first possession.

The full section of the NFL rule book on overtime, which explains all the procedures in full, can be found here.