In the past two weeks, we have witnessed two ties.
First, the Seattle Seahawks and Arizona Cardinals tied 6-6 on Sunday Night Football and this week in London the Washington Redskins and Cincinnati Bengals tied 27-27. But, no other professional sports league has ties. The NHL will have a five minute overtime and if that isn't enough, the outcome is determined by a shootout.The NBA, College Football, and the MLB just keep going until one team is ahead of the other. Ties ar inherently pointless and there's no place for them in the NFL.
As a football fan, I'd rather have my team lose than have my team tie. It creates a sense of closure and the tie just opens up a door of "what if"s? What if we had done this differently? What if we hadn't done this? What if we won? At least with a loss, you can accept your fate but a tie just has that connotation about it. It provides no closure and it's pointless. Many other leagues have implemented it successfully so why can't the NFL?
In the MLB, you will continually play extra innings until one team is in the lead. The longest MLB game in the history of the sport took 26 innings to settle. It was a battle between the Brooklyn Robins and the Boston Braves in May of 1920. In the NBA, there is one 5 minute quarter and the team in the lead once time expires is the winner. If the score is tied after the first OT period, the teams will play a 2nd OT until one team leads. The longest NBA game featured 6 overtimes. It was between the Indianapolis Olympians and the Rochester Royals in January 1951. In the NHL, the two teams go to one 5-minute OT period and if no one scores in OT, the game goes to a sudden death style shootout. If it's the playoffs, the game will play continuous 20 minute OT periods, until one team scores. The longest NHL game was played by the Detroit Red Wings and the Montreal Canadiens in the 1936 playoffs. It ended in 6 OT periods. If these numbers scare you about what may happen if the NFL eliminates ties, there's a key detail you are missing.
Look at the dates of the longest games in the respective sports leagues. The bizarre 26-inning MLB game took place in 1920, the insane 6 OT NBA game took place in 1951, and the ridiculous 6 OT NHL game took place in 1936. Sports have changed so much that we would never get something like that today. Sports have evolved so much and the NFL needs to evolve with them. They've been stuck in the past for far too long. It's time to make some worthwhile changes to the rule book.
