Sunday featured the second Super Bowl to go into overtime and the first one to do so under new rules.
With the playoff rules, both teams get a chance to possess the ball before the game ends. So that means as the clock ticked down to zero just before Patrick Mahomes threw a 3-yard touchdown pass to Mecole Hardman, it didn’t really matter. If time ran out before the Chiefs scored, that would not have automatically meant the 49ers won.
Former Giants running back Tiki Barber does not agree with that part of the postseason overtime rules, arguing that it takes away from some of the best moments in football of teams fighting against the clock.
“The new NFL overtime rule in the playoffs is nonsense. It’s absolute nonsense. To make a clock mean nothing is nonsense,” Barber said on WFAN Monday. “The clock has to end the game. I understand why they do it this way because you want to be fair. But it takes all urgency out of football.
“Football, in my mind, is competing against an opponent. But it’s also competing against these forces that constrain you. It’s the field, it’s the officials, and it’s the clock. And overtime in the NFL playoffs, they have neutered the clock, and it makes no sense to me.”
The 49ers elected to receive the ball after winning the coin toss in overtime and finished their 13-play drive with a 27-yard field goal before the Chiefs responded with their own 13-play drive and a touchdown to win the game.