An NFL Regular Season Game Can End In A Tie. A Playoff Game Cannot.

The overtime coin toss looks identical in Week 3 and in a divisional playoff. What happens if nobody wins is not.

The regular season has a stopping point

A regular season overtime is no more than one 10-minute period. If the score is still level when it expires, that is the end of it - the result is recorded as a tie. Nothing further is played.

The postseason has no such stopping point.

The postseason does not

In the playoffs, play continues through as many overtime periods as are needed for a winner to be determined, with a two-minute intermission between each period. A playoff game cannot end in a tie, because the rule never lets it stop while the score is level.

What both versions now share

Since 2025 the two formats agree on the part people argue about most: each team must have the opportunity to possess the ball, even if the team that receives the opening kickoff of overtime scores a touchdown on that first possession. That guarantee applies in the regular season and the postseason alike.

• 01Regular season: no more than one 10-minute overtime period
• 02Regular season: still level at the end means the game is a tie
• 03Postseason: as many periods as it takes, with a two-minute intermission between
• 04Postseason: the game cannot end in a tie
• 05Both: each team gets an opportunity to possess the ball