Five suggested tweaks for NFL overtime rule that were made following Chiefs’ loss
 

The possession breakdown In the overtime period of Sunday’s AFC Championship Game looked like this:

Patriots: 4 minutes, 52 seconds.

Chiefs: zero seconds.

New England beat the Chiefs 37-31 in overtime at Arrowhead Stadium, and Kansas City’s offense never took the field. That’s how sudden-death overtime works, of course. If a team wins the coin flip and scores a touchdown, the game ends. Kick a field goal and the other team gets the ball with a chance to tie or win.

But the Patriots got the touchdown and ended the Chiefs’ season.

For a number of neutral observers, that was an unsatisfactory end because quarterback Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs never got the ball.

Here are five suggested tweaks for the NFL’s playoff overtime format from people who cover the game:

1. Mike DeCourcy of the Sporting News wrote: “The NFL’s overtime rule calls for a sudden-death victory if the team that possesses the ball first scores a touchdown on that drive. It’s preposterous. In fact, because the Chiefs were the home team — a designation earned by achieving the best regular-season record of any team in the conference — they didn’t even get to call the coin toss. The visiting squad gets that honor, just because.”

DeCourcy proposed a fix.

“The solution at this stage of the season has got to be to put 15 minutes on the clock and see which team has more points when that period is done,” he wrote. “And if it’s still tied, to do it again. Maybe another 15 minutes, maybe just 10; that could be discussed. But there’s no defense for keeping an offense like the one the 2018 Chiefs deployed from having a say in the team’s destiny.”

2. Jacob Feldman of Sports Illustrated came up with a made-for-TV suggestion for who should get the ball first in overtime:

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Since I know we&#39;re going to be doing this all off-season, my overtime suggestion:<br><br>Each team secretly says what yard line they&#39;d be willing to start with the ball on. Whoever suggests a worse starting position gets the ball there.</p>&mdash; ✏️Jacob Feldman (@JacobFeldman4) <a href="https://twitter.com/JacobFeldman4/status/1087192229473595394?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 21, 2019</a></blockquote>
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3. Michael David Smith, the managing editor of Pro Football Talk, also proposed a change to the coin flip:

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">If we&#39;re going to keep the current overtime format of sudden death for a TD but not for a field goal on the first possession, the change I&#39;d make is to get rid of the coin flip and determine who receives the kickoff based on something that happened in the game, like total yards.</p>&mdash; Michael David Smith (@MichaelDavSmith) <a href="https://twitter.com/MichaelDavSmith/status/1087346625872347137?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 21, 2019</a></blockquote>
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4. USA Today’s Nate Scott wrote: “We didn’t get to see Patrick Mahomes. That alone should tell the NFL that its overtime rules are fundamentally flawed.”

Scott thinks the NFL should go back to school. College that is.

“(W)at’s especially infuriating is the solution is right there,” Scott wrote. “College football has the greatest overtime in sports. Their solution with the overtime conundrum was to turn the game into a game of backyard football, and it’s fantastic. Let the teams take turns scoring on each other until we pass out. That’s excellent!”

5. Nate Silver of FiveThirtyEight.com also liked the college overtime rule, but with one twist:

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">How about the NFL adopts the college football overtime system but with touchdowns only? <a href="https://t.co/27FpQsiBsq">https://t.co/27FpQsiBsq</a> <a href="https://t.co/nGEAsJK4Ce">pic.twitter.com/nGEAsJK4Ce</a></p>&mdash; Nate Silver (@NateSilver538) <a href="https://twitter.com/NateSilver538/status/1087385807634210817?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 21, 2019</a></blockquote>
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https://www.kansascity.com/sports/spt-columns-blogs/for-petes-sake/article224860635.html

I'm on board with any solution that ends an unjust system.

Are you familiar with a penalty shoot out in soccer? The best option for overtime is to do a penalty shootout of 2 point conversions, initially 5 attempts per team alternating between each team's offense and defense.

#1 is the one I would choose.

If the team who posses the ball first scores a TD then the other team has a chance to score a td. If they do then it’s sudden death. Next score wins

I like college football overtime, myself.

The only thing unfair about yesterday's OT was watching Bob Sutton's D butcher another playoff game.

I don’t like the OT rules, but I’m not going to blame those rules.

We knew the rules before we played the game. They were enforced properly.

It sucks, but we shouldn’t rely on OT. More than ample opportunity to win that one in regulation. Can only blame ourselves.

Both teams get equal possessions. If there is a disparity thereafter, game is over.

I posted this in another thread - but I've had this idea since even the new OT rules came out:

If the first team to touch the ball scores, the second team gets one chance to beat (not tie) that score. So if the first team gets a FG, second team has to score a TD. First team gets a TD, second team has to get a TD and go for 2.

If the first team has the balls to get a TD+2, they win. But if they miss they'd leave themselves open to losing to a TD+1. So I doubt most teams do it.

Imagine how exciting for fans and everyone else if Mahomes had the ball last night with a chance to score a TD+2 to win the game.

Otherwise if the first team doesn't score it's sudden death - same as now.

Touchdown only college OT is the way to go.

Gives gassed defenses a fairer chance.

Just play a damn 10 minute quarter

Yeah I'm still not sure I'm real crazy about putting the college OT rules into the NFL. We might still be playing last night's game. There does sure seem to be a lot of buzz about it today though, even among non-Chiefs fans.

but

PLAYER SAFETY!