NFL regular season overtime rules for 2025: Ensuring fair play and exciting OT

The National Football League introduced sudden-death overtime in 1974 and the rules governing the extra phase of the game have evolved greatly over the past 50 years.

The most recent change came in 2025 and these are the current overtime rules.

New postseason NFL overtime rules

• Coin toss: At the start of overtime, a coin toss determines which team receives the ball first.
• Possessions: Both teams get the opportunity to possess the ball. If the first team with possession scores a touchdown, the other team will still get a possession to try and match or beat it. The only exception is if the receiving team’s first possession ends on a safety, in which case the game ends immediately.
• Scoring: The game continues into a sudden death scenario after both teams have had a possession. The first team to score after the initial possessions will win.
• Timeouts: Each team gets two timeouts per overtime period.
• Tie: If the score is still tied at the end of the 10-minute overtime period, the game is recorded as a tie.
• Replay: Coaches cannot challenge plays in overtime; all reviews must be requested by the replay official. 

What is the longest overtime in NFL history?

Although the rules allow for it, there has never been a third overtime period in NFL history. Most overtimes are concluded within the first period, with a small percentage extending slightly into a second. One, however, lasted longer.

A 1971 meeting between the Dolphins and the Chiefs lasted over 80 minutes. The game finished 24-24 at the end of the regulation 60 minutes and the first period of OT went scoreless as both teams failed in their attempts to convert a field goal.

The game dragged into a second overtime period and was only brought to a close when, midway through that second period, Miami’s Garo Yepremian scored a 37-yard field goal to clinch the win. The Dolphins went on to lose to the Cowboys in that year’s Super Bowl but they came powering back, winning the next two championships and recording the only perfect season in NFL history.

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