Rams missed chance for decisive victory due to NFL’s lousy overtime rules

There was no disappointment for a long time during the game between the LA Rams and the Detroit Lions in Week 1. Against all expectations, LA fought back and briefly took a 20-17 lead with just under five minutes to go before Detroit tied it. The stage was set for a thrilling finale until the NFL’s nasty overtime rules showed their ugly face.

Unlike postseason playoff rules, where both offenses have a chance even if the first team scores a touchdown, regular season rules state that once the first team scores a touchdown, the game is over. Is it just me, or is this rather disappointing?

Fortunately, I wasn’t the only one bothered by the NFL’s stupid overtime rules:

By the time the Lions won the coin toss, all the drama and fanfare had left the stadium. The NBC broadcast caught repeated glimpses of Matthew Stafford and Cooper Kupp standing helplessly on the sidelines as David Montgomery’s goal seemed more and more inevitable. It’s hard not to feel sorry for them after their second-half heroics nearly secured the Rams a win to start the 2024 season.

Considering how hard the NFL tries to make rules that favor the offense, it’s incredible that they haven’t changed the overtime rules to give both teams a chance. I mean, they changed them in the playoffs shortly after the 2021 Divisional Round shootout between the Bills and Chiefs, just not in the regular season.

So why not make the playoffs and regular season the same? That would almost make too much sense, right? No team should be rewarded for winning a coin toss. I’d say the exact same thing if LA had won this time. What the NFL is saying is that only one series of games is clearly more important than the other.

Every single game of an NFL season is important, especially one that pits two presumptive NFC contenders against each other so early in the season. This game will likely play a major role in the NFC playoffs later in the year, which makes it all the more painful that Stafford and Co. won’t get a chance to compete with Jared Goff and the Lions.

While this loss was tough to take, LA didn’t lose because of the current overtime rules — those rules just did them absolutely no favors. Stafford failed to reach Kupp on a crucial third-and-10 attempt on a potentially game-winning drive before the Lions went down the field to tie the game 20-20. The Rams had a chance to put the game on ice in regulation time and missed it.

However, that doesn’t excuse the fact that football fans everywhere feel like they were robbed of an all-time final score. The NFL’s overtime rules need to be changed to be fair to both offenses involved.

Also, the league needs to change the rules just to confuse the 49ers once again. If not for the Rams, then please do something to screw the whiners, that’s all I ask.