ORIGINAL POST on Forbes.com
The most unsatisfactory result in a football game is when it ends in a tie. Sunday the Cardinals and Seahawks played a boring, defense dominated game which ended up in a 6-6 tie in an inconclusive overtime. Games like that contribute to the current ratings slump for the NFL and create a variety of negative effects. The NFL needs to adopt a new system for ending overtimes.
The goal of overtime should be to create a decisive fair result as rapidly as possible. The players are tired after having four quarters of action, fatigue leads to injuries. Elongated games bleed over into later games creating a problem for viewers and commercial sponsors. Attention span has become truncated, especially with millennials, and games that last too long can lead to fan turnoff and partially emptied out stadia. Ties interfere with Wild Card criteria.
In April of 2012 the NFL extended new rules to all games which previously only applied to playoff games, "any team scoring a touchdown or safety wins immediately. A team that scores a field goal wins the game except if the field goal is from the initial receiving game on its' first first possession. Then the team that kicked off has a chance to reply."
There are better, more effective overtime systems available to solve the problem:
1) Revert Back to Sudden Death--This was the NFL system from 1974-2011. Every play in this format becomes critical. It is decisive. The drawback is that the team kicking off may never even get a chance on offense and lose. The receiving team gets the ball deep in its' territory so reasonable defense can counterbalance the advantage.
2) Adopt The College Overtime System--Teams alternate on offense/defense with ball starting at 25. The team with a higher score at the end of a sudden-death period wins. This has become one of the most exciting aspects of college football. Thrills and chills. In 2016 there have been 33 games which have gone to overtime. Over 80% of them have been been decided in the first or second overtime. It is a quick and decisive system.
3) Seahawks' QB Russell Wilson's Plan--This is a field goal oriented system which gives the team that allows the coin flip winner to kick a 52 yard field goal to win in sudden death. If the kick is made the team wins, if not the team loses. This system is rapid and decisive.
Any of these systems are preferable to the current method. They all offer complete certainty and a winner. They cut down the length of the overtimes. They narrow the time on the field for exhausted players. This change is needed.