NFL Postseason Overtime Rule Change

A historic ending to the Bills-Chiefs divisional round game last year called for a change to NFL postseason overtime rules, and the days of winning the coin toss, scoring a touchdown, and ending the game are over.

The 2023 playoffs were the first to feature these new changes that will be in postseason overtime only. Each team will now have the opportunity to possess the ball at least once.

Usually, when coaches know their team will be on offense for at least one possession, they have their captains elect to receive second. Now that these rules will continue into overtime, the previous overtime strategy of electing to receive first will likely not occur as much, if at all.

None of the NFL playoff games went into overtime this postseason, so it was not expected to see how the rule changes affected the game until next year.

However, when Kansas City Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker kicked a 29-yard field goal with three seconds left to tie the game, Super Bowl LVIII was going to become the first game with these changes in effect.

San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan discussed with his team right before the coin toss about the new postseason overtime rules, and this was the first time his team had heard about them since Shanahan did not mention them in any meetings during Super Bowl week.

The 49ers analytics department and coaching staff determined before the start of the game that the best move was to still elect to receive first, and that is what the coin toss winners elected to do, allowing the reigning world champions to have their offensive possession second.

Brock Purdy led the 49ers offense down to the Chiefs nine-yard line, but ultimately, they were only able to add three points on the board to give them a 22-19 lead.

Kansas City’s offense came onto the field fired up, and Mecole Hardman caught a three-yard pass from Patrick Mahomes to seal the victory for the Chiefs.

It was then revealed after the game had concluded that Chiefs head coach Andy Reid had been going over these new playoff overtime rules with his team far in advance of the big game.

Many of the 49ers players, including Kyle Juszczyk and Arik Armstead, had admitted to not knowing the exact format. Meanwhile, Purdy explained that he and quarterbacks coach Brian Griese had reviewed the changes.

Juszczyk proceeded to say how knowing or not knowing the rules does not change his goal on the field or him as a player, and he felt that this was just people trying to attack his coach.

Both Shanahan and Juszczyk agreed on how they did not think focusing more on the postseason overtime rules ahead of time would make any difference to the players.

It will be interesting to see if other NFL head coaches will take time to explain and discuss the new guidelines with their teams before the next postseason, especially after the coach that did was the one to walk away with the Lombardi Trophy for the second year in a row.

Ashley Mascaro is a second-year majoring in broadcast journalism. To contact her, please email aem6398@psu.edu.