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You've just played a game for three hours or more and still the team's fate is in the hands of a coin. Much is made of overtime and the methods involved in deciding a winner. Just one play is all it takes to consign your team to defeat, and the winner to glory.

The debate over the coin and its fairness could be settled by looking at the past statistics, from 1974 to 2006, only 53% of teams that won the coin flip actually won in the extra sessions. Not exactly overwhelming numbers to support the unfairness of the current system employed.

There is also another way of looking at it, an offense may be better than the other team's defense, therefore it's a done deal when the overtime period looms that said team will march relentlessly down the field and win without any response from the other side. A way around this is to ensure that both teams get an equal share in overtime, if one team scores first then the opposition get a chance for one last drive.

This idea was tried successfully in the now defunct NFL Europe league, other than giving some momentum to the winner the coin flip loses its power somewhat. There is also an equal chance of winning in College football as well, the over-time isn't exactly played out like the main game but it's considered a fair end to decide an outcome.

Coaching staffs are the root cause, they coach to not lose rather than win at the end of games. A classic example was at the end of Super Bowl XXXVI, the New England Patriots and the St.Louis Rams were tied 17-17 with 1:30 on the clock. Ex-Raiders coaching legend John Madden was very doubtful in his commentary of the mentality of the Patriots; in trying to move the ball by passing the football down the field and actually win in regulation. He preferred the ultra-conservative option of going to overtime, even though no Super Bowl has ever gone to overtime since its creation.

It's says a lot about the fear of losing and what it does to coaches and game-plans. If a team is 31-7 ahead going into the 4th quarter, and by the time the two-minute warning has arrived find themselves in a 31-31 tie, doesn't it instill the need to take the football down the field and get the all important victory. Prolonging the inevitable won't help team morale or show the players you have any confidence in their abilities.

All teams have to do is very simple, Play to win and not for the flip of a coin.

Learn more about this author, Wayne Reeves.
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