Can NFL Games End in a Tie?

Rule 16 of the playing rules sets out the overtime procedure. If the score is tied at the end of regulation playing time in all regular-season and postseason games, a system of modified sudden-death overtime is in effect. At the end of regulation the Referee tosses a coin at the center of the field, and the visiting team captain calls the toss.

In the regular season, following an intermission of no more than three minutes, an extra period of 10 minutes begins. Both teams must have the opportunity to possess the ball once during the extra period, unless the team kicking off to start overtime scores a safety on the receiving team's initial possession, in which case the team that kicked off is the winner. After each team has had an opportunity to possess the ball, the team with more points wins. If the team that possesses the ball first does not score on its initial possession, or if the score is tied after each team has had its opportunity to possess the ball, the team next scoring by any method is the winner.

There is a maximum of one 10-minute period in the regular season, even if the second team has not had an opportunity to possess the ball or if its initial possession has not ended. If the score is tied at the end of the period, the game results in a tie.

In the postseason, the extra period is 15 minutes. If the score is tied at the end of a 15-minute overtime period, or if the second team's initial possession has not ended, another overtime period begins, and play continues regardless of how many 15-minute periods are necessary. That is why a playoff game cannot end in a tie.

The data confirm what the rules say. Of the 7,276 games played from the 1999 season to the 2025 season, 15 ended in a tie, and all 15 were regular-season games. None of the 309 playoff games ended in a tie. Counting the regular season alone, the 15 ties are 0.2 percent of 6,967 games.

Overtime is more common than a tie. In the regular season 415 games, or 6.0 percent, went to overtime, and 15 of those 415, or 3.6 percent, were still tied after the 10-minute period. The other 400 ended with a winner.

Ties are uneven across seasons. Twelve of the 27 seasons had at least one tie, and 2016, 2018 and 2022 had two each. Fifteen seasons had none, including 2023 and 2024.

The ties range from 6-6, in 2016, to 40-40, in 2025. The score 20-20 happened twice, in 2022, and 27-27 twice, in 2016 and 2019. The most recent tie in the data is September 28, 2025, when the Packers and the Cowboys finished 40-40. The 2026 season is still in progress and is not part of the counts on this page; the games table lists one tie so far, the New York Giants at Washington, 27-27, on October 11, 2026.

The overtime rules come from Rule 16 of the official NFL playing rules, 2026 edition. The games come from the open nflverse games table, seasons 1999 to 2025, where a tie is a game with equal final scores. The table was checked for duplicates and for scores that disagree with the totals, and none were found. Team names follow the game identifiers in the table, and Washington is listed without a nickname because the club's name changed during the period.

The rules are reviewed each year. This page describes the 2026 edition and its date is shown at the top. More football pages are collected on the NFL hub, the page about the most common NFL scores uses the same table, and the page about the NFL clock covers game timing.