NFL Urged to Rethink Overtime Rules After FIFA World Cup Drama

The Pitch: Make OT Must-Watch TV

An NFL insider is calling on commissioner Roger Goodell to take a hard look at how the FIFA World Cup handles its most tense moments — penalty shootouts — and apply that same nerve-wracking energy to NFL overtime. The argument is simple: World Cup shootouts are appointment viewing because every kick carries maximum stakes, and the league should chase that same blend of "anxiety and exhilaration" instead of the current overtime format, which still draws criticism for occasionally ending games before both offenses get a real shot.

Why Overtime Keeps Coming Up

The NFL has already tweaked its playoff overtime rules to guarantee both teams possession, a change made after the infamous 2022 AFC Championship game between the Chiefs and Bills, where Kansas City won the coin toss and marched down the field without Buffalo's offense ever touching the ball again. That moment sparked years of debate about fairness, and it's part of why insiders keep floating bigger ideas now that international sports have shown fans crave drawn-out, high-stakes tiebreakers.

Regular season overtime rules are still different from the playoffs — a single 10-minute period that can end in a tie if nobody scores — and that's the sticking point critics keep circling back to. A tie feels anticlimactic in a league built on decisive outcomes, and it's part of why the World Cup comparison keeps resurfacing.

What the World Cup Model Actually Offers

Soccer's shootout format works because it isolates pressure into single, unmissable moments. Every kick is do-or-die, and fans can't look away. Translating that to football isn't a straight copy-paste — the sports are built differently — but the underlying principle insiders want the NFL to chase is the same: strip away ambiguity and force every possession or play late in overtime to feel like it could end the season.

Where This Could Actually Go

Don't expect an overnight overhaul. The NFL's competition committee moves cautiously, and any rule change typically takes years of internal debate, several offseason meetings, and often a controversial playoff moment before owners vote on anything. But conversations like this one matter because they shape the direction future proposals take. If enough voices inside the league start pushing the same idea — that overtime needs more inherent drama and fewer coin-flip outcomes — it increases pressure on the competition committee to bring something concrete to the table before next season's meetings.

The Bottom Line

This is still just talk for now, not policy. But it's a signal that the NFL's overtime format remains one of the most debated rules in the sport, and that outside influences — even from soccer's biggest stage — are shaping how insiders think the league should evolve.