Nfl how long is overtime

At the end of a fourth overtime period, timing rules shall apply as at the end of the fourth quarter. At the end of a fourth overtime period, there will be another coin toss pursuant to Section 1, Article 2 , and play will continue until a winner is declared. Additional Rules. Rule 4 Section 6. Rule 6 Sections Rule 11 Sections Rule 11 Section 5. Rule 8 Section 1.

Rule 8 Section 7. Rule 8 Section 1 Article 6. Rule 8 Section 7 Article 3. Rule 7 Section 2 Article 1. Rule 12 Section 2 Article Rule 8 Section 1 Articles Rule 12 Section 3. Rule 10 Section 2. These high-profile recent examples are major reasons why multiple teams have proposed changes to the NFL's overtime rules in recent years. Following the aforementioned heartbreak in the AFC title game, Kansas City proposed a rule change that would allow both teams the opportunity to possess the ball at least one time in overtime, even if the first team to possess the ball in overtime scores a touchdown.

That proposal was tabled by the NFL competition committee and eventually dropped. More recently, the Eagles submitted a proposal that would have changed the time in an overtime period — it's currently 10 minutes — but that idea suffered the same fate. So for now, the NFL's overtime rules are the same as they have been for the last four years.

Below is the NFL's overtime format, plus a more detailed explanation of the recent overtime rule change proposals. The NFL's overtime rules were amended as recently as , when the overtime period was shortened from 15 minutes to 10 minutes in the name of player safety.

The sudden-death NFL overtime format we know today was established in It gives both teams the chance to possess the ball at least once in overtime unless — and this is key — the team that receives the overtime kickoff scores a touchdown on its first possession. The full section of the NFL rule book on overtime, which explains all the procedures in full, can be found here. Shortly after the Patriots beat the Chiefs in the AFC championship game by driving down the field and scoring a touchdown on their first possession of overtime, Sporting News' Mike DeCourcy delivered the perfect analogy to explain what was so wrong about the rules that didn't give Patrick Mahomes and Co.

The Chiefs were understandably frustrated by what had transpired, so the following spring, they submitted to the NFL competition committee a rule change proposal that would address the issue.

Because a postseason game requires one team to win, multiple minute overtime periods are played if needed until one team scores to win the game. If the first team to possess the ball in overtime scores a touchdown, the game is over -- without the second team even having an opportunity on offense. This gives the team that wins the coin toss a huge advantage.

Teams that have come out on the losing end of this proposition, like the Kansas City Chiefs in the AFC Championship, have suggested various rule changes, to no avail so far. While the rule that a touchdown ends the game is unpopular, it used to be even worse: The game would end if the team that won the coin toss scored a field goal, too. Each team receives two timeouts during a regular-season overtime and three timeouts in a postseason overtime.

If the game ends on a touchdown, the extra point is not attempted.