The evolution of the overtime rule in the NFL is as follows:
- 1941 — Sudden-death rule was added for divisional playoff games (at the time, these were one-game playoffs to break a division tie to advance to the NFL title game)
- 1946 — Sudden-death was extended to the championship game to avoid co-champions (first put into effect 11 years later)
- 1974 — A single sudden-death period was added for regular season and preseason games.
- 2010 — A “modified sudden death” that extended the overtime past a first-possession field goal.
- 2012 — Modified sudden death implemented for regular season and preseason games, except that no more than one period would be played.
- 2017 — Overtime in regular season and preseason games was reduced to 10 minutes.
There were also special provisions for certain exhibition games to have a sudden-death overtime before 1974, and the first NFL overtime game actually was in the 1955 preseason, three years before “The Greatest Game Ever Played.”
Under the modified sudden-death system, the overtime period is extended if there is a field goal on the first possession. In that case, the scoring team kicks off to the opponent for a chance to equalize or beat the score. If the second team ties the game without losing possession, then on the ensuing kickoff, the tie will be broken by the next score, regardless.
There is only one 10-minute overtime period in the preseason and the regular season; the game will end in a tie if neither team is ahead. Postseason overtime will continue until a winner is decided.
The first possession is actually defined as “the opportunity to possess,” so if the receiving team does not get possession of the opening kickoff in overtime, it has lost the opportunity to possess. Also, if there is a double change of possession on the same play (offense recovers the ball after a change), the second team has had its opportunity to possess.
Overtime games with a first-possession field goal, 2012-2018
These are overtime games that continued past the first-possession field goal. There have not been any postseason overtime games that utilized this rule.
Extra plays are the number of plays after the first FG in overtime. It includes kickoffs and all scrimmage plays except for snap-killing fouls. Altered result compares what the conventional sudden-death result would have been to the actual result; a dash indicates that there was no change.
| Date | Final score | FG 1st poss | 2nd & additional poss | Extra plays | Altered result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9/9/2012 | MIN 26–JAX 23 | MIN | JAX downs | 5 | — |
| 9/23/2012 | TEN 44–DET 41 | TEN | DET downs[∗] | 10 | — |
| 10/21/2012 | NE 29–NYJ 26 | NE | NYJ fumble[∗] | 8 | — |
| 11/18/2012 | HOU 43–JAX 37 | HOU | JAX FG HOU TD |
10 | HOU win by FG→TD (12 total pts[†] in OT) |
| 11/24/2013 | MIN 26–GB 26 | GB | MIN FG 3 punts followed |
34 | GB win→TIE |
| 12/29/2013 | SD 27–KC 24 | SD | KC downs | 7 | — |
| 10/12/2014 | JAX 37–CIN 37 | CIN | JAX FG CIN missed FG JAX no 2nd poss |
24 | CIN win→TIE[‡] |
| 10/27/2014 | WAS 20–DAL 17 | WAS | DAL downs | 5 | — |
| 9/13/2015 | STL 34–SEA 31 | STL | SEA downs | 8 | — |
| 11/1/2015 | TB 23–ATL 20 | TB | ATL downs | 6 | — |
| 11/2/2015 | CAR 29–IND 26 | IND | CAR FG IND int CAR FG |
17 | IND win→loss CAR 6-1→7-0, part of 18-win streak, 14 consecutive wins in season[§] |
| 12/6/2015 | NYJ 23–NYG 20 | NYJ | NYG missed FG | 9 | — |
| 12/24/2015 | OAK 23–SD 20 | OAK | SD downs | 5 | — |
| 12/28/2015 | DEN 20–CIN 17 | DEN | CIN fumble | 3 | — |
| 10/23/2016 | SEA 6–AZ 6 | AZ | SEA FG AZ missed FG SEA missed FG |
28 | AZ win→TIE[¶] SEA #4 seed→#3 seed (head-to-head loss to GB) |
| 11/27/2016 | KC 30–DEN 27 | DEN | KC FG DEN missed FG KC FG |
26 | DEN win→loss KC #5 seed→#2 seed OAK #2 & first-round bye→#5 seed |
| 1/1/2017 | PIT 27–CLE 24 | CLE | PIT TD | 10 | CLE win→loss |
| 10/1/2017 | AZ 18–SF 15 | SF | AZ TD[Δ] | 10 | SF win→loss |
| 9/30/2018 | TEN 26–PHI 23 | PHI | TEN TD[◊] | 19 | PHI win→loss |
| 9/30/2018 | HOU 37–IND 34 | IND | HOU FG IND downs at 0:24 HOU FG |
23 | IND win→loss |
- [∗]Replay of final play upheld↩
- [†]Highest number of points that can be scored in overtime↩
- [‡]Highest scoring tie game in NFL history↩
- [§]No impact on seeds, as CAR clinched #1 seed by 2 games↩
- [¶]Lowest scoring tie game in NFL history since 11/5/72 (PHI-STLCards, 6-6) and the lowest regulation score (3-3) since 11/7/40 (NYG-DET, 0-0).↩
- [Δ]First extended possession since the implementation of the 10-minute overtime rule↩
- [◊]A defensive pass interference penalty continued the drive on a 4th down stop. Also TEN reconsidered a FG attempt on 4th down and converted↩
Photo: Green Bay Packers