NFL Overtime Rules: Regular Season vs Playoffs, Explained

NFL overtime is one 10-minute period in the regular season and as many 15-minute periods as it takes in the playoffs. In both cases each team is guaranteed a chance to have the ball, even if the team that gets it first scores a touchdown, and a regular-season game that is still tied after those 10 minutes ends in a tie.

That possession guarantee is fairly new. It arrived in the playoffs for the 2022 postseason, was extended to the regular season in 2025, and the 2026 rulebook keeps both in place. Below is how overtime starts, what ends it, the rules that apply in every overtime, how the system got here, and how college football handles it differently. If you are new to the sport, American football for beginners covers downs and scoring first.

How NFL overtime starts

Overtime only happens if the score is level when the fourth quarter ends. The rulebook allows a break of no more than three minutes, and the referee tosses a coin at midfield with the visiting captain making the call, just as before the opening kickoff. The winner of the toss chooses to receive or kick off, or picks which goal to defend, and the other team gets the remaining choice. Play then starts with a kickoff under the normal kickoff rules.

For most of NFL history, winning the toss and receiving was the obvious move, because a score on the first drive could end the game. Now that the other team always gets a turn, the decision is closer. Receiving first gives you the ball and a possible third possession if the game reaches sudden death. Kicking first means you know exactly what you need when your turn comes.

Regular-season overtime: one 10-minute period

Rule 16, Section 1, Article 3 of the 2026 NFL rulebook sets out regular-season overtime. In plain terms:

• Each team must have the opportunity to possess the ball once. The one exception: if the team that kicked off scores a safety on the receiving team's first possession, it wins on the spot.
• Once both teams have had that opportunity, the team that is ahead wins.
• If the first team does not score on its opening possession, or the score is level after both teams have had the ball, the next score of any kind wins. This is the sudden-death phase.
• There is a maximum of one 10-minute period. When it expires, the game is over, even if the second team never got the ball or is in the middle of its drive.
• Each team gets two timeouts, and the usual fourth-quarter timing rules apply.

How a 10-minute overtime can play out

Three hypothetical games show how those clauses fit together. In the first, Team A receives and drives for a touchdown and extra point, using six minutes. Team B gets the ball with four minutes left and also scores a touchdown and extra point. The score is level, so the next score wins, and if nobody scores before the clock hits zero, the game is a tie.

In the second, Team A kicks a field goal on its first drive and Team B turns the ball over on downs. Both teams have had their opportunity and Team A is ahead, so Team A wins.

In the third, Team A grinds out a drive of nine and a half minutes and scores a touchdown. Team B starts its possession with 30 seconds left and time runs out before it scores. The period is over and Team A wins, because the score is not tied.

The last case is why clock management matters so much in a short overtime. A team that matches a touchdown late may go for a two-point conversion instead of kicking the extra point, because there may be no time left for another possession.

Ties and the standings

If regulation and overtime both end level, the game goes in the books as a tie. Under the NFL's tiebreaking procedures, a tie counts as half a win and half a loss for both teams. A team that finishes 10-6-1 has a winning percentage of (10 + 0.5) / 17 = 0.618. That puts it behind an 11-6 team (11 / 17 = 0.647) and ahead of a 10-7 team (10 / 17 = 0.588).

Ties are uncommon, but half a game can move a team up or down the seeding. Our explainer on how many teams make the NFL playoffs shows how winning percentage decides the bracket.

Preseason games do not go to overtime at all. Owners removed preseason overtime in April 2021, so a tied preseason game simply ends tied.

Playoff overtime: play until someone wins

Postseason overtime, under Article 4 of the same rule, uses the same possession logic but cannot end in a tie. Each overtime period is 15 minutes, with a two-minute break between periods. Both teams must have the opportunity to possess the ball at least once, with the same safety exception as the regular season. After both have had that opportunity, the team ahead wins, and if the score is level, the next score wins.

The difference is what happens when the clock runs out. If a period ends with the score tied, or with the second team's first possession still going, another period begins. There is no limit on the number of periods.

Each team is entitled to three timeouts per half, as in regulation. Teams switch ends after the first and third overtime periods, the end of the second period is timed like the end of a first half, and the end of the fourth is timed like the end of a fourth quarter. If a game ever reaches the end of a fourth overtime period, the referee tosses the coin again and play continues until there is a winner.

Going first or second

Super Bowl LVIII in February 2024 was the second Super Bowl to go to overtime, after Super Bowl LI in 2017, and the first played under the guaranteed-possession playoff rule. The San Francisco 49ers won the toss, received and drove to the Kansas City 9-yard line before settling for a field goal. The Chiefs then knew a field goal would extend the game and a touchdown would win it. They converted a fourth-and-1 along the way and scored the winning touchdown for a 25-22 victory.

49ers coach Kyle Shanahan explained afterward that he wanted the ball first so his team would have the third possession if both sides scored touchdowns. Both approaches have a logic. The team that goes first sets the target and gets the first chance once sudden death begins. The team that goes second has information: it knows whether it needs a field goal, a touchdown or a two-point conversion, and it can plan to use all four downs.

Rules that apply in every NFL overtime

Article 5 of Rule 16 covers both the regular season and the playoffs, and a few of its details surprise longtime fans.

If the first team scores a field goal or touchdown and the second team then loses the ball on an interception or fumble, the play runs to its end. The defense can score on the return, and those points count.

Possession opportunities are defined by kicks. The kickoff is the receiving team's opportunity, so if the kicking team legally recovers an onside kick, the receiving team is treated as having had its chance. A punt or field goal attempt that crosses the line of scrimmage and is muffed by the receiving team also counts as its opportunity.

Coaches cannot challenge in overtime; the replay official starts every review. And a player disqualified earlier in the game cannot return in any overtime period.

The onside kick clause gained weight in 2026. Under the 2025 rules only a trailing team could declare an onside kick, which ruled it out at the start of a tied overtime. The 2026 rulebook lets the kicking team declare one at any time in the game. A team that recovers one to start overtime has used up the opponent's guaranteed opportunity without the opponent running a single play.

How NFL overtime rules have changed

Today's format is the result of several rounds of changes, most of them aimed at shrinking the role of the coin toss.

• Before 1974, regular-season games that were tied after four quarters ended as ties.
• 1974: the league added a 15-minute sudden-death period to preseason and regular-season games. The first regular-season overtime game, Pittsburgh at Denver on September 22, 1974, still ended 35-35.
• March 2010: owners voted 28-4 for modified sudden death in the playoffs, so a field goal on the opening possession no longer ended the game. A touchdown still did.
• March 2012: the modified format was extended to the regular season.
• May 2017: preseason and regular-season overtime was cut from 15 minutes to 10, starting that season.
• April 2021: preseason overtime was eliminated.
• March 29, 2022: owners voted to guarantee both teams a possession in playoff overtime, even after an opening touchdown. The change followed Kansas City's overtime win over Buffalo in the January 2022 divisional round, decided by a touchdown on the first possession.
• April 1, 2025: owners approved a Philadelphia proposal that brought the regular season in line with the playoffs. The Eagles had also proposed going back to a 15-minute period, but the league kept 10 minutes.

NFL.com's coverage of the 2025 vote pointed to two pressures. Kickoff changes had improved starting field position, making opening-drive touchdowns easier, and Sportradar data showed 6 of 16 overtime games in 2024 ending on an opening-drive touchdown, the most since the modified rules began. The rule changes listed at the front of the 2026 rulebook deal with kickoffs, onside kicks and disqualifications, not overtime, so the 2025 format is the one in force this season.

College overtime works differently

College football, under the 2026 NCAA rules, uses no clock in overtime. Instead, teams alternate possessions:

• The coin toss winner cannot defer. It chooses offense or defense, or which end of the field both possessions will use.
• In each overtime period, both teams get one possession starting at the opponent's 25-yard line. A possession lasts until the team scores or fails to make a first down.
• After a touchdown in the first overtime, a team can kick for one point or go for two. From the second overtime on, a touchdown must be followed by a two-point try.
• From the third overtime on, each possession is a single two-point play from the 3-yard line.
• Teams get one timeout in each of the first two overtimes, then one timeout in total from the third overtime until the game ends, a change that took effect in 2025.

There are no ties in college football. The two-point format from the third overtime was adopted in 2021 to bring very long games to an end faster. Our guide to how long a football game lasts covers what overtime adds to the real-time length.

NFL overtime quick reference

• Regular season: one 10-minute period, both teams guaranteed a chance at the ball, two timeouts each, ties possible.
• Playoffs: unlimited 15-minute periods, both teams guaranteed a chance at the ball, three timeouts per half, no ties.
• Sudden death begins once both teams have had the ball with the score level, or straight away if the first team fails to score.
• A safety by the kicking team on the receiving team's first possession ends the game immediately.
• No coaches' challenges; the replay official starts all reviews.
• Preseason: no overtime since 2021.
• College: no clock, alternating possessions from the 25, mandatory two-point tries from the second overtime, single two-point plays from the third.