As every year, the so-called “Competition Committee” of the NFL meets to discuss possible rule changes. The focus is once again on the controversial overtime rule, especially in the playoffs.

Munich/New York City – It was the number one topic of conversation after the history-making divisional playoff between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Buffalo Bills: the NFL’s overtime rule.

The Chiefs won the coin toss, got the ball and drove down the field to score the winning touchdown. But no one really agreed with the way they won.

Overtime rule up for discussion again

Now the overtime rule is being discussed again in the NFL, this was confirmed by Rich McKay, chairman of the so-called “Competition Committee” of the league, who are discussing rule changes. He confirmed to the “NFL Network” that there are proposals to change the rule only in the playoffs as well as to revise it completely.

Leading the way this year are the Indianapolis Colts, the report said. They are in favour of guaranteeing every team at least one possession in overtime, both in the playoffs and in the regular season.

The extent to which the rule has support is still unclear. 24 of the 32 owners would have to cast their positive vote to change the rule. The same goes for other proposals to change the rulebook.

The Kansas City Chiefs already wanted to change the overtime rule in 2019, prompted by the overtime loss to the New England Patriots in the 2018 AFC Championship Game. At the time, the proposal failed miserably, with not even half of the owners voting in favour.

The current overtime rule states that the team that scores the first touchdown wins immediately. If the first team fails to score a touchdown, the second team must either score the same number of points to extend the game or score more points to end the game.