NFL Overtime Rules -- Yes, It's Messed Up

I'm not sure that there's ever been a two-minute period in NFL football as exciting as the last two minutes of regulation play in the Chiefs-Bills playoff on Sunday night.

And, naturally, I'm glad my team, the Chiefs, won in overtime.

But I have to agree with the complaints that the NFL's overtime rules are FUBAR and that the Bills got robbed of an opportunity they should have had to go for a different outcome.

Here's how the overtime rules currently work:

1. There's a coin toss, just like at the beginning of the regular game. The winning team chooses to kick off or receive (and, for obvious reasons, will always choose to receive).
2. If the receiving winning team doesn't score, or only scores a field goal, the other team gets its shot.
3. But if the receiving team scores a touchdown the game is over.

It's a dumb, unfair compromise between "sudden death" and "play until a quarter ends with one team ahead."

I favor "play until a quarter ends with one team ahead." And no coin toss. The game just continues where it left off at the end of regulation play.

Yes, that could make for some long games. But it's better than either "sudden death" or the half-assed version of same. Play another quarter. Got a winner yet? No? Play another quarter.

As a side bit of trivia, the longest NFL game in history also involved the Chiefs. The Dolphins beat them on Christmas Day in 1971. Game time: 82 minutes and 40 seconds.