NFL Overtime: Sudden Death Needs to Die

NFL overtime rules need to be changed. I know this is a debate that seems as old as father time himself, but I feel it needs talked about one more time. The NFL was scared to make it a sixteen game season, but that worked out well. Then the NFL was worried that coaches' challenges would slow down the game too much. Sure, it slows it down a tiny bit, but I don't hear many people wanting to get rid of it. That's because of the simple reason that it has been for the better of the game.

Why is the NFL so enthused over having a thrilling game be decided by a coin flip and field goal?

I'm not going to go too much into stats here. In fact, I'm not even going to look them up. Why? Because I don't care how many times the team that wins the coin flip, wins the game. It's obvious that this method isn't fair, so why even bother with that argument.

I want to talk about the real reason why the NFL needs to change their out dated overtime rules. Entertainment. Isn't that what pro football is all about? A recent Monday Night game with the Minnesota Vikings and the Chicago Bears has a perfect example of what I'm talking about. Chicago beat up on Minnesota in the first half, and took a 16-0 lead into halftime.

I'm not sure what happened in the locker room, but something made the Vikings decide to show up in the second half. They outscored the Bears 23-7 in the next 24 minutes and 11 seconds, tying the game at 23 with only 5:49 left in regulation. The Bears took the lead again 30-23 less than one minute later. Game over, right? Not so fast! That is Brett Favre over there in the #4 Vikings jersey. Favre led the Vikings 68 yards and connected with Sidney Rice for a six-yard touchdown with only nine seconds left in the 4^th quarter.

The Bears talented win of the coin flip to start overtime earned them the ball at the start of the sudden death period. Cutler led the Bears into field goal territory, and once there, they conservatively became content with a 45-yard field attempt by Robbie Gould. The 85.6% career field goal kicker then ended the game. Isn't that a thrilling ending to one of the best games of the 2009 NFL season? Okay, so Gould missed the field goal and the rest of the overtime was exciting. The game could've just as easily ended with Brett Favre never even getting a chance at overtime heroics. Shouldn't the goal of the NFL be to get its great players as many chances at thrilling plays as possible? Don't we all want to see Brett Favre with a chance to save the day in a game where he led his team to 30 second half points? We were almost robbed of that because the coin landed on the wrong side.

The NFL needs to get out of the ice age and make a change. The overtime period doesn't have to be just like the one in college football. If you feel like the 20-yard line is too close, put them at the 35-yard line, or midfield. Make the overtime period of an NFL game what it should be; the most exciting part of the game.