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The storyline is all-too-familiar: Two evenly-matched football teams slug it out for 60 minutes on Sunday. They deliver an exciting finish. And when the smoke clears, the score is tied.

In the case of almost every other sport, fans would be thrilled for the game to continue. An opportunity to see the battle continue into an 'extra session' would bring cheers from all directions.

But when it comes to NFL games, the sound that can be heard from fans when overtime arrives is more like a sigh rather than a cheer.

That's because they know that the 'thrilling extra session' is likely to consist of a coin toss, a kickoff, a few plays from scrimmage, and a field goal.

When the ball sails through the uprights, that's it. The game is over. The other team doesn't even get a chance to fight back. What is exciting about that?

There is definitely a need for a change to the overtime rule, but the change does not need to be as drastic as moving to the rules used in college football. As exciting as that can be, there is just no room in the NFL for an 85-82 contest that lasts seven overtimes.

Instead, the professionals can start out the way they do right now. But there could be three different directions to go, depending on what happens at the end of that first drive.

1) If the team that wins the coin toss (Team A) scores, they would kickoff to Team B, and that team would have one possession to either match or beat the score posted by Team A. If the score from Team B matched Team A's score, then this cycle would start again and continue until a winner was determined or the 15 minute overtime period was complete.

2) If the team that wins the coin toss (Team A) does not score [stopped on fourth down, misses field goal], they would kickoff to Team B, and that team would have one possession to score. If Team B is also unable to score, then the overtime cycle would start again and continue until a winner was determined or the 15 minute period was complete.

3) If the team that wins the coin toss (Team A) does not score because of a turnover, Team B would get the ball at the spot where the turnover occurred. Team B would have one possession to score from that spot. If that team was unable to score, then the overtime cycle would begin again with a kickoff by Team B. The game would continue from there until a winner was determined or the 15 minute period was complete.

It is likely that the guiding forces of the NFL would be resistant to this kind of a change initially. But if they truly want to put their best product out on the field, they would soon see that this plan would give both teams a good chance to win in overtime. At the end of the day, that should be what everyone wants.

Learn more about this author, Ryan Gray.
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