How Does NFL Overtime Work When a Game Is Tied?

NFL overtime gives a tied game an extra chance to produce a winner, but the result depends on possession opportunities as well as the score. Under the current format, an opening touchdown does not by itself end the game before the opponent's opportunity. In the regular season, however, the overtime clock has a firm ten-minute limit. That combination explains why viewers must watch both the scoreboard and the remaining time, rather than assuming that the first team to score always wins.

The league aligned its regular-season format more closely with the postseason in 2025. Its official explanation says both teams receive an opportunity to possess regardless of the first possession's result, subject to the regular-season time limit. This changes the significance of an opening touchdown. It establishes a lead that may require an answer, rather than automatically shutting the other offense out. Older memories of a touchdown ending the first drive can therefore make a current overtime sequence seem confusing. NFL Football Operations’ explanation of the overtime change.

An opportunity to possess has a more precise meaning than an ordinary offensive drive. The NFL's rules digest explains that a kickoff supplies the receiving team with that opportunity. If the kicking team legally recovers the kick, the receiving team is still considered to have had its chance. Actual possession can also be gained by intercepting a pass or recovering a loose ball. These definitions matter because overtime follows what legally occurred with the ball, rather than promising every offense a fresh series of snaps.

Consider the difference between having a chance and successfully using it. A receiving team might be ready to send out its offense, yet lose the ball during the kick itself. That is why a television summary saying that both teams get the ball can be misleading. The useful question is whether the required opportunity has happened under the rules. The same digest notes that replay reviews in overtime are initiated by the replay official; a coach does not start one by using a challenge. The NFL rules digest’s possession definitions.

After the required opportunities, a team that is ahead wins. If the opening team fails to score, or the teams remain tied after their initial opportunities, the next score wins. There is also a specific early exception: if the team kicking off to start overtime scores a safety on the receiving team's initial possession, the kicking team wins. Those details are set out in Rule 16 of the current NFL rulebook. They explain why simply counting completed offensive drives is insufficient.

Imagine the first team kicks a field goal and the second then scores a touchdown during its answer. The second team has done more than match the opening score, so it wins. If the second instead matches that field goal, a later score can settle the game. These simple examples help distinguish an answering opportunity from the sudden-death phase that follows a tied exchange. A team needs to understand which phase it is in before deciding whether a particular score is enough.

The regular-season clock supplies a separate stopping condition. There is only one ten-minute overtime period, even if the second team's initial possession is unfinished or it has not had an opportunity. A tied score at the end produces a tie. In the playoffs, the period is fifteen minutes, and another period begins if the score is tied or the second team's opening possession has not ended. Play continues until there is a winner. The clock ending is therefore a different event in November's regular season and in a postseason elimination game. Rule 16 of the 2026 NFL rulebook.

For a viewer, the clearest way to follow the extra period is to keep three things in mind: the type of game, what opportunities have already occurred, and the time left. The coin toss and opening drive start the sequence, but they do not describe every possible ending. Once possession and the clock are considered together, overtime becomes easier to understand as a set of conditions being satisfied, rather than a mysterious extra quarter with a single scoring rule.