Super Bowl LVIII is in overtime, and that makes this the first Super Bowl played under the NFL’s new playoff overtime rules.
Overtime starts with a coin toss, and the team winning the toss can choose to kick, receive, defer or select which goal to defend.
In the playoffs, both teams are guaranteed a possession — even if the team that receives the overtime kickoff scores a touchdown. If there’s a touchdown on the first possession, that team will then kick off and the other team will have a chance to score a touchdown of its own. The only situation in which both teams would not get a possession would be if the team on defense first scores a safety. In that case, the safety would win the game.
If the team possessing the ball second has not concluded its possession when 15 minutes run out, that team will keep the ball into the second quarter of overtime.
Each team gets three timeouts per half in playoff overtime, just as in a regular game.
Unlike regular-season overtime, postseason overtime uses 15-minute quarters, and is played like a whole new game. That includes a two-minute warning at 2:00 of the second quarter of overtime, and if time runs out on the second quarter of overtime, there will be another kickoff, and the team that lost the coin toss will choose to kick, receive or defend a goal. However, there is not a full halftime intermission if the game remains tied after the second overtime (which has never happened in NFL history). The overtime halftime lasts only two minutes.
If the game is still tied after four quarters of overtime, there will be another coin toss and play will continue like it’s a new game.
Postseason overtime introduces different strategies. Many coaches believe it’s better to kick off to start overtime so that they know what they need on their first offensive possession. And if the team that gets the ball first scores a touchdown and kicks the extra point, the team going second will likely go for two after a touchdown of its own to try to win the game right then and there.
One previous Super Bowl has gone into overtime, when the Patriots came from behind and beat the Falcons. In that game, the Patriots scored a touchdown on the first possession to end the game. In this game, even if a touchdown is scored on the first possession of overtime, the game will continue.