Once again a great NFL game was decided without giving both teams a chance to win it for their team. Overtime rules is the one area I believe college football has the edge over the NFL since in college football each team has an offensive and defensive possession so that both teams have an opportunity to win the game.
In case you're unsure what the overtime rules are for the NFL here's a breakdown. The officials and a representative of each team meet at center field for a coin toss, just like the beginning of the game. The visiting team makes their selection, the referee tosses the coin, and the winner of the toss decides whether they want to receive the ball to start overtime or not (they always choose receive). Overtime is a 10 minute period that starts with a kickoff to the receiving team. If the receiving team scores a touchdown on the opening drive of overtime then the game is over and that team wins. The game also ends with any defensive score, an interception returned for a touchdown, fumble recovery returned for a touchdown, or a safety. If the receiving team fails to score a touchdown on their opening drive then two scenarios occur. Scenario 1, the receiving team scored a field goal, then the game continues and the kicking team will get a chance to score. In this scenario a touchdown wins the game, a defensive stop wins the game, or a field goal continues the game, but it's sudden death and next score wins. Scenario 2, the receiving team fails to score at all. In this scenario the game becomes sudden death and the next score, regardless of whether it's a touchdown or not, wins the game. If the game is still tied at the end of overtime then the game ends in a tie, this rule changes in the playoffs and can become much more confusing though it's very rare for more than one overtime to occur.
Here are the college football overtime rules, don't worry it won't be as long as the NFL rules. Overtime begins with a coin toss as well and the visiting team makes their selection, the coin is tossed, and the winner decides whether they start on offense or defense, or they decide which side of the field to play on. In the first two overtimes each team will start at the opponent's 25 yard line in an attempt to score. If after each team has possession the game is still tied then a second overtime occurs, but each is team must attempt a 2-pt. conversion after a touchdown instead of an extra point kick. If there is a third overtime then each team will only attempt 2-pt conversions, alternating after each attempt, until a winner is decided. These rules do not change between the regular season and post-season.
The reason to go through both set of rules is to highlight the flaws and unnecessary complexity of the NFL overtime rules. The NFL needs to take a page out of college football and allow both teams to have a chance to win the game. With the current rules whoever wins the coin toss can receive the ball first and win it without giving the opposing offense a chance of their own. This gives one team a huge advantage and we've seen it in the 2018 AFC championship game between the Chiefs and Patriots, Super Bowl LI between the Falcons and Patriots, and recently in the 2022 AFC Divisional game between the Bills and Chiefs. Each of these games was decided on the opening drive of overtime because the receiving team scored a touchdown and the opposing offense could only watch from the sideline. Yes, the defense need to step up and get a stop, but shouldn't both defenses be put in that situation of needing to get a stop for their team.
As fans we love watching tight, nail biting games, especially in the playoffs, but we don't want to see just one offense get a chance to win when both teams have played an exceptional game. If the NFL is worried that the game can get too long if both teams are given an equal chance to win then they could change the rules that after the first overtime, if the score is still tied, then let the team start at the opponent's 25 yard line, and after one possession by each team like that then do alternating 2-pt conversion tries. This way the game is still exciting without putting too much extra stress on the players' bodies, and most importantly, it's fair for both teams. This is only my thoughts, but I really hope the NFL makes some change to their overtime rules soon.
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