NFL Overtime Rules (2026)

NFL overtime rules at a glance

The NFL overtime rules are written in Rule 16 of the official rulebook, and since 2025 the regular season and the playoffs follow the same possession rules. What still differs is the clock, the timeouts and whether a tie is allowed. Everything on this page was checked against the 2026 edition of the rulebook.

How does overtime work in the NFL?

Here is how NFL overtime works from the end of regulation to the final whistle:

1. Coin toss. The referee tosses a coin right after regulation and the visiting captain calls it, just like before kickoff. The winner chooses to receive, to kick, or which goal to defend.
2. Intermission. Teams get up to three minutes, then overtime starts with a kickoff.
3. Team A's first possession. The receiving team drives. Whatever happens, the other team will get its chance — unless the defense scores. A safety, or an interception or fumble returned for a touchdown, ends the game on the spot.
4. Team B's answer. Team B gets one possession knowing exactly what it needs. If Team A scored a touchdown, Team B must score one too (and may go for two to win outright). If Team A kicked a field goal, a touchdown wins and a field goal keeps it going.
5. Sudden death. If the score is tied after both teams have had the ball — or if Team A never scored — the next score of any kind wins.
6. Time runs out. In the regular season, the game ends as a tie. In the playoffs, another 15-minute period begins and play continues.

A detail people miss: "possession" starts with the kick. The rulebook says the opening kickoff is the receiving team's opportunity to possess, so if Team A fumbles the kickoff and the kicking team recovers, Team A has had its turn. The same goes for a muffed punt.

Regular-season overtime rules

The regular-season overtime rules give each team two timeouts and one 10-minute period. The fourth-quarter timing rules apply, including the two-minute warning. When the period ends, the game is over, even if the second team has not touched the ball or is in the middle of its first drive. That last clause matters more than it sounds: a receiving team that grinds out a seven-minute touchdown drive leaves the other team only about three minutes to answer.

Ties are rare but real. There were 7 ties from 2017 to 2024, when a first-possession touchdown still ended the game, and two more since the new rules began: Green Bay and Dallas finished 40-40 in Week 4 of 2025, and the Giants and Commanders tied 27-27 in Week 5 of 2026. A tie counts as half a win and half a loss in the standings.

Playoff overtime rules

Playoff overtime rules exist because a postseason game must have a winner. Each period lasts 15 minutes, teams change ends after the first and third periods, and there is a two-minute break between periods but no halftime. Each team gets three timeouts per half of overtime, and the end of the second period is timed like the end of a first half, with a two-minute warning. If a game somehow reaches the end of a fourth overtime period, the referee tosses the coin again and play goes on.

The longer clock changes strategy. In Super Bowl LVIII in February 2024 — the first Super Bowl played under the both-teams rule — San Francisco received, used about seven and a half minutes and kicked a field goal. Kansas City answered with a touchdown in the final seconds of the first overtime period to win 25-22. Under regular-season rules, the same 49ers drive would have left the Chiefs roughly two and a half minutes instead of seven.

The new overtime rules: what changed in 2022 and 2025

For decades, overtime was pure sudden death: the first score won. The NFL adopted it for the regular season in 1974, softened it in the 2010 playoffs so a first-drive field goal no longer ended the game, and applied that to all games in 2012. In 2017 the regular-season period was cut from 15 minutes to 10.

The turning point was the January 2022 divisional round. Buffalo and Kansas City combined for 25 points in the final two minutes of regulation, the Chiefs won the toss, and Travis Kelce caught the winning touchdown before Josh Allen could touch the ball. Two months later, owners voted that both teams would get a possession in playoff overtime. In April 2025 they extended the same rule to the regular season on a proposal from the Philadelphia Eagles, keeping the 10-minute period. Nothing about overtime changed for 2026; that year's rule changes were about kickoffs, including allowing an onside kick at any point in the game.

Does winning the coin toss still matter?

We counted every regular-season overtime from 2017 through Week 6 of the 2026 season in the nflverse play-by-play. Under the old rules, the team that received the overtime kickoff went 67-44-7 (57% wins) in 118 games. Under the new rules it is 11-8-2 (52%) in 21 games — closer to a coin flip, which is exactly what the rule change was meant to do.

The more useful split is what the receiving team did with its first drive. When it scored a touchdown or field goal, it went 9-1-1. When it came up empty, it went 2-7-1. The first possession is no longer decisive by rule, but it still sets the terms: the answering team has to match it, and in 6 cases the opening drive went the distance for a touchdown.

Receive or kick? Overtime strategy under the new rules

Choosing to receive is still the default, but the decision is closer than it used to be. The trade-offs:

• Receiving gives you the first chance to score and, if both teams match, the first crack at sudden death. In the regular season it also lets you control the clock: a long drive shrinks the other team's window.
• Kicking gives you information. The second team knows whether it needs a field goal, a touchdown or a two-point try, so it can use all four downs and play to the exact number.
• Going for two. If the first team scores a touchdown and the second team answers, a successful two-point try wins the game on the spot. NFL two-point tries have succeeded about 48% of the time since 2021 — close to a coin flip — so some coaches would rather end it than play on.
• Timeouts. Two timeouts across a 10-minute period are worth guarding; spending one early can cost the second team its last possession.

You can test these choices yourself. In the 2 Minute Drill Game, a drive that ends tied goes to an overtime you call — the coin toss, receive or kick, every play — under the current rules, with the playoff clock for postseason games. Survivor mode is where it comes up most.

NFL vs college football overtime rules

College football overtime rules work differently: there is no game clock, and each team gets a possession from the opponent's 25-yard line. Since 2021, a touchdown in the second overtime must be followed by a two-point try, and from the third overtime on, teams simply trade two-point plays.