Super Bowl overtime rules, explained for Patriots-Seahawks 2026

Super Bowl LX has already made history, as the New England Patriots became the first team to advance to the big game after losing 13 games the year before.

But could it make more history under the new overtime rules, which were put into place following the epic AFC Divisional Round game between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Buffalo Bills back in 2022?

While Super Bowl LIX did not advance to overtime, as the Philadelphia Eagles turned in a dominant performance against the Chiefs, it pays to be prepared in case overtime is on the docket between the Patriots and the Seattle Seahawks.

Here is what you need to know.

What are the NFL overtime rules for the playoffs?

All playoff games that advance to overtime will follow these revised rules:

• If a game is tied at the end of regulation, the referee will toss a coin to determine which team will possess the ball first in overtime. The visiting team captain will call the toss.
• Both teams will have an opportunity to possess the football. This is the big change. Previously, as we saw in the 2022 AFC Divisional Round game between Kansas City and Buffalo, if the team that started with the football scored a touchdown, the game was over. Under the new rules, in that scenario, Buffalo would get a chance to match with a touchdown of their own, and if they did, the game would continue. Once both teams have had possession, the game then becomes sudden death. In addition, if the team that starts with possession scores and kicks the extra point to take a seven-point lead, the second team can win with a touchdown and a two-point conversion.
• If the score is still tied at the end of an overtime period — or if the second team’s initial possession is still in progress — the teams will play another overtime period. Play will continue regardless of how many overtime periods are needed for a winner to be determined.
• There will be a two-minute intermission between each overtime period. There will not be a halftime intermission after the second period.
• If the game remains tied after two overtime periods, there will be a second half. The captain who lost the first overtime coin toss will either choose to possess the ball or select which goal his team will defend unless the team that won the coin toss deferred that choice.
• Each team gets three timeouts during a half.
• The same timing rules that apply at the end of the second and fourth regulation periods also apply at the end of a second or fourth overtime period.
• If there is still no winner at the end of a fourth overtime period, there will be a third coin toss, and play will continue until a winner is declared.
• There are no instant replay coach’s challenges; all reviews will be initiated by the replay official.

What happened in overtime of Super Bowl LVIII?

Super Bowl LVIII made a little history under the revised playoff rules.

The reason?

Super Bowl LVIII became the first playoff game under the league’s new overtime rules for the postseason, and those changes guaranteed each team a chance to possess the football in overtime. After the San Francisco 49ers kicked a field goal — more on that in a moment — Patrick Mahomes and the Kansas City Chiefs drove down the field and scored the game-winning touchdown on the final play of Super Bowl LVIII.

That made Super Bowl LVIII the first Super Bowl to see a lead change on the final play of the game.

Looking back at how that unfolded, many wonder if the 49ers should have approached things differently.

San Francisco won the coin toss, and made the decision to receive the kickoff, despite a prevailing theory that under the new rules it made more sense to defer. With both teams guaranteed a possession, knowing what you need to score to win the game offers a competitive advantage, similar to how teams in college want to start on defense in overtime, so they know what they need to do on offense to win.

Instead, the 49ers began on offense, and could only manage a field goal. That opened the door for the Chiefs to win the game on their guaranteed possession with a touchdown, which is exactly what they did.

Speaking after the game, San Francisco head coach Kyle Shanahan stated that the team had run through the various scenarios, and thought by starting on offense they would have the advantage if the game advanced to a third overtime possession, and sudden death.

“None of us have a ton of experience with it,” Shanahan said. “We went through all the analytics and talked to those guys. We decided it would be better getting the ball because if both teams matched and scored, we wanted to be the ones to have a chance to go win it.”

The problem? The game never got to that third overtime.

What happened during the 2025-2026 playoffs?

This year, two different games advanced to overtime under the new rules.

Each game followed a similar pattern.

The first overtime game during these playoffs was the AFC Divisional Round game between the Buffalo Bills and the Denver Broncos, which advanced to overtime after Buffalo kicker Matt Prater converted a 50-yard field goal as time expired in regulation.

Buffalo won the toss, and elected to kick, so they would go second and know what they needed to score. Buffalo’s defense forced a punt, and the Bills had a chance to win the game on their ensuing possession. But a controversial interception from Ja’Quan McMillian gave the Broncos possession, and Denver drove down the field for the game winning field goal.

Then the next day in the NFC Divisional Round game between the Chicago Bears and the Los Angeles Rams, which advanced to overtime on a miraculous touchdown from Caleb Williams to tight end Cole Kmet which tied the game with 27 seconds left.

Like Buffalo, Chicago won the toss and started on defense, and the Bears forced a three-and-out to start the extra frame. Chicago was then driving on offense and on the cusp of what would have been a game-winning field goal, but a Williams pass was intercepted, giving Matthew Stafford another shot.

Los Angeles drove into Chicago territory and kicker Harrison Mevis drilled a walk-off 42-yard field goal to win the game.

What about the 2025 regular season?

Ahead of the 2025 NFL season, the league decided to align the overtime rules for the regular season with the approach for the playoffs. However, that change was made “subject to a 10-minute overtime period in the regular season.”

Meaning regular season games could still end in ties, unlike postseason games.

Lessons learned from Super Bowl LVIII seemed to come into play during overtime periods in the regular season. One example comes from when the Green Bay Packers and the Dallas Cowboys went to overtime back in September. Green Bay won the coin toss ahead of overtime but elected to kick, since they were now guaranteed a possession even if Dallas scored a touchdown.

Green Bay held Dallas to a field goal, giving the Packers a chance to win the game with a touchdown. But when their drive stalled deep in Cowboys’ territory, Green Bay was forced to settle for a game-tying field goal.

The game ended in a 40-40 tie.

Other example from this past regular season indicate that teams will defer in overtime under the new rules. In October the San Francisco 49ers and the Los Angeles Rams went to overtime, with Los Angeles winning the coin toss. Sean McVay and the Rams chose to kick, giving the 49ers possession first.

San Francisco settled for a field goal, but the Rams were stopped on 4th-and-1 to end the game.

In November the Carolina Panthers and the Atlanta Falcons went to overtime, with Carolina winning the toss. Quarterback Bryce Young declared “we want to kick that way,” which was incorrectly granted by the referee. A team can choose to kick, or which end zone to defend, but they cannot choose both.

But the Panthers indeed started on defense, forced a punt, and then kicked a game-winning field goal on the next drive.

One scenario that has not been tested yet? The impact of the two-point conversion. After Super Bowl LVIII Kansas City indicated that if necessary, they would have gone for two at the end of their possession to try and win, rather than kick an extra point and extend the game to a third overtime possession.

Should overtime arise in the Super Bowl, will the two-point conversion come into play?

I guess we will have to wait to find out.