History
Further information: Overtime (sports)In 1974, the NFL instituted one fifteen-minute overtime period for all preseason and regular season games tied at the conclusion of four quarters of play. Any score in that overtime period resulted in sudden death, and the game immediately ended with the scoring team winning the game. A tied game resulted only when neither team scored in this single overtime period. The exception to this rule was that playoff games can never end in a tie, and thus multiple overtime periods could be required to decide a winner. However, only five NFL playoff games have gone to a second overtime, and none has ever gone to a third. The longest game in NFL playoff history took 22:40 of overtime to decide.
The regular-season overtime system was changed in 2012 to a "modified sudden death" system, in which each team is guaranteed a possession unless the team that received the ball upon overtime kickoff scored a touchdown. If a touchdown is not scored on the first possession, and after each team has had a possession the game is still tied, overtime continues in sudden-death mode until a score is made or the 15-minute period ends. Thus, if both teams make field goals on their respective first possessions of overtime, the game could still end as a tie if neither scores again..
Read more about this topic: List Of NFL Tied Games
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