Mahomes, Chiefs Played in Last Overtime Game Involving New Rules

As of Tuesday, only 100 days stand between this week and the NFL’s Sept. 4 kickoff game between the Cowboys and Super Bowl champion Eagles. ESPN analyst Ben Solak, to celebrate the occasion, compiled a list of 100 things to know about the upcoming season, and Chiefs observers should take note.

Among several Chiefs-related items, Solak reminded readers that the league has now put postseason overtime rules in place for all regular-season games.

That’s significant to Kansas City because Andy Reid, Patrick Mahomes, and Steve Spagnuolo each played critical roles in the last time those rules came into play: The team’s Super Bowl LVIII victory over San Francisco on Feb. 11, 2024, at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas.

Ironically, the team that proposed the proposal before it passed was the Eagles, who soundly defeated Kansas City in the most recent Super Bowl, 40-22. Now, the regular-season and postseason overtime rules are the same, guaranteeing each team at least one possession following the coin toss.

Before 2025 in the regular season, the team with initial possession could win in overtime simply by scoring a touchdown on its first drive. If that team kicked a field goal or didn’t score, the other team would take possession after the ensuing kickoff.

“There's some serious overtime game theory for the winner of the coin toss now,” Solak wrote Tuesday, noting that regular-season overtime remains 10 minutes in length. “The team with the latter possession will have a lot of information that will dictate fourth-down decisions. Do they need a touchdown to win? Or even to extend the game?

“A smart second-possession team will go for 2-point tries and fourth-down attempts to try and prevent a third possession from ever happening. So, the second possession feels more valuable.”

That’s what most people thought as overtime began in that Chiefs-49ers Super Bowl two seasons ago. San Francisco won the overtime toss but stunned many by electing to receive the kickoff. Brock Purdy -- whose new contract reportedly pays him more than Mahomes -- drove his club to the Chiefs’ 9-yard line, but pressure from Chris Jones forced a third-down incompletion. San Francisco had to settle for a 27-yard Jake Moody field goal to go up, 22-19.

But had the Niners elected to kickoff in overtime, rather than receive, that field-goal attempt on fourth-and-4 from the 9 might have been a go-for-it situation because San Francisco would've had more information.

As the second-possession team, the Chiefs had all the information. They knew they needed a touchdown. Mahomes drove Kansas City 75 yards in 13 plays before completing a 3-yard, walk-off pass to Mecole Hardman. Reid on that drive knew he needed a fourth-and-1 conversion from the Chiefs’ 34-yard line, or game over. He wasn’t going to punt and lose the game. Mahomes slipped through the defense for an 8-yard run around right tackle.

But there’s a school of thought to which San Francisco subscribed. Some NFL head coaches may choose the same path in overtime this season.

“None of us have a ton of experience with it,” Shanahan said after the loss. “But we went through all the analytics and talked to those guys. We just thought it would be better. We wanted the ball third. If both teams matched and scored, we wanted to be the ones who had the chance to go win.”

In other words, Shanahan knew both teams would get the ball once, and the 49ers bet on themselves by ensuring they’d get the third overtime possession. Solak explained that reasoning.

“But remember,” Solak wrote, “the first-possession team is the third-possession team, and the third possession is when sudden death begins. So, having the ball first (and subsequently third) is also nice. See the confusion?

“The new regular-season overtime is complex and not completely solved, which means that by Week 4, we will have enormous internet arguments in stark black and white about something that is largely gray.”

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